H$\alpha$ Morphologies of Star Clusters: A LEGUS study of HII region evolution timescales and stochasticity in low mass clusters

The morphology of HII regions around young star clusters provides insight into the timescales and physical processes that clear a cluster's natal gas. We study ~700 young clusters ( 5Myr), consistent with the expected temporal evolution of HII regions and previous results. However, 2) similarities in the age distributions for clusters with concentrated and partially exposed H$\alpha$ morphologies imply a short timescale for gas clearing (<1Myr). 3) our cluster sample's median mass is ~1000 M, and a significant fraction (~20%) contain one or more bright red sources (presumably supergiants), which can mimic reddening effects. Finally, 4) the median E(B-V) values for clusters with concentrated H$\alpha$ and those without H$\alpha$ emission appear to be more similar than expected (~0.18 vs. ~0.14, respectively), but when accounting for stochastic effects, clusters without H$\alpha$ emission are less reddened. To mitigate stochastic effects, we experiment with synthesizing more massive clusters by stacking fluxes of clusters within each H$\alpha$ morphological class. Composite isolated clusters also reveal a color and age progression for H$\alpha$ morphological classes, consistent with analysis of the individual clusters.