Most star formation in our galaxy occurs within embedded clusters , and these background environments can affect the star and planet formation processes occurring within them .
In turn , young stellar members can shape the background environment and thereby provide a feedback mechanism .
This work explores one aspect of stellar feedback by quantifying the background X-ray radiation fields produced by young stellar objects .
Specifically , the distributions of X-ray luminosities and X-ray fluxes produced by cluster environments are constructed as a function of cluster membership size N .
Composite flux distributions , for given distributions of cluster sizes N , are also constructed .
The resulting distributions are wide and the X-ray radiation fields are moderately intense , with the expected flux levels exceeding the cosmic and galactic X-ray backgrounds by factors of \sim 10 - 1000 ( for energies 0.2 – 15 keV ) .
For circumstellar disks that are geometrically thin and optically thick , the X-ray flux from the background cluster dominates that provided by a typical central star in the outer disk where r \gtrsim 9 - 14 AU .
In addition , the expectation value of the ionization rate provided by the cluster X-ray background is \zeta _ { X } \sim 8 \times 10 ^ { -17 } s ^ { -1 } , about 4 – 8 times larger than the canonical value of the ionization rate from cosmic rays .
These elevated flux levels in clusters indicate that X-rays can affect ionization , chemistry , and heating in circumstellar disks and in the material between young stellar objects .