We present an analysis of stellar distributions for the young stellar clusters GGD 12-15 , IRAS 20050+2720 , and NGC 7129 , which range in far-IR luminosity from 227 to 5.68 \times 10 ^ { 3 } ~ { } L _ { \odot } and are all still associated with their natal molecular clouds .
The data used for this analysis includes near-IR data obtained with FLAMINGOS on the MMT Telescope and newly obtained wide-field 850 \mu m emission maps from SCUBA on the JCMT .
Cluster size and azimuthal asymmetry are measured via azimuthal and radial averaging methods respectively .
To quantify the deviation of the distribution of stars from circular symmetry , we define an azimuthal asymmetry parameter and we investigate the statistical properties of this parameter through Monte Carlo simulations .
The distribution of young stars is compared to the morphology of the molecular gas using stellar surface density maps and the 850 \mu m maps .
We find that two of the clusters are not azimuthally symmetric and show a high degree of structure .
The GGD 12-15 cluster is elongated , and is aligned with newly detected filamentary structure at 850 \mu m. IRAS 20050+2720 is composed of a chain of three subclusters , in agreement with Chen et al .
( 17 ) , although our results show that two of the subclusters appear to overlap .
Significant 850 \mu m emission is detected toward two of the subclusters , but is not detected toward the central subcluster , suggesting that the dense gas may already be cleared there .
In contrast to these two highly embedded subclusters , we find an anti-correlation of the stars and dust in NGC 7129 , indicating that much of the parental gas and dust has been dispersed .
The NGC 7129 cluster exhibits a higher degree of azimuthal symmetry , a lower stellar surface density , and a larger size than the other two clusters , suggesting that the cluster may be dynamically expanding following the recent dispersal of natal molecular gas .
These analyses are further evidence that embedded , forming clusters are often not spherically symmetric structures , but can be elongated and clumpy , and that these morphologies may reflect the initial structure of the dense molecular gas .
Furthermore , this work suggests that gas expulsion by stellar feedback results in significant dynamical evolution within the first 3 Myr of cluster evolution .
We estimate peak stellar volume densities and discuss the impact of these densities on the evolution of circumstellar disks and protostellar envelopes .