Embedded Clusters in Molecular Clouds

Key Words clusters, star formation, initial mass function, circumstellar disks, brown dwarfs n Abstract Stellar clusters are born embedded within giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and during their formation and early evolution are often only visible at in-frared wavelengths, being heavily obscured by dust. Over the past 15 years advances in infrared detection capabilities have enabled the first systematic studies of embed-ded clusters in galactic molecular clouds. In this article we review the current state of empirical knowledge concerning these extremely young protocluster systems. From a survey of the literature we compile the first extensive catalog of galactic embedded clusters. We use the catalog to…