Description
The distribution of N*, the number of OB stars per association or cluster, appears to follow a universal power-law form (N*)^-2^ in the local universe. We evaluate the distribution of N* in the Small Magellanic Cloud using recent broadband optical and space-ultraviolet data, with special attention to the lowest values of N*. We find that the power-law distribution in N* continues smoothly down to N*=1. This strongly suggests that the formation of field massive stars is a continuous process with those in associations and that the field stars do not originate from a different star formation mode.
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