A multiwavelength study of the massive star forming region IRAS 06055 + 2039 ( RAFGL 5179 )

We present a multiwavelength study of the massive star forming region associated with IRAS 06055+2039 which reveals an interesting scenario of this complex where regions are at different stages of evolution of star formation. Narrow band near-infrared (NIR) observations were carried out with UKIRT-UFTI in molecular hydrogen and Brγ lines to trace the shocked and ionized gases respectively. We have used 2MASS JHKs data to study the nature of the embedded cluster associated with IRAS 06055+2039. We obtain a power-law slope of 0.43±0.09 for the Ks-band Luminosity Function (KLF) which is in good agreement with other young embedded clusters. We estimate an age of 2 – 3 Myr for this cluster. The radio emission from the ionized gas has been mapped at 610 and 1280 MHz using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), India. Apart from the diffuse emission, the high resolution 1280 MHz map also shows the presence of several discrete sources which possibly represent high density clumps. The morphology of shocked molecular hydrogen forms an arc towards the N-E of the central IRAS point source and envelopes the radio emission. Submillimetre emission using JCMTSCUBA show the presence of a dense cloud core which is probably at an earlier evolutionary stage compared to the ionized region with shocked molecular gas lying in between the two. Emission from warm dust and the Unidentified Infrared Bands (UIBs) have been estimated using the mid-infrared (8 – 21μm) data from the MSX survey. From the submillimetre emission at 450 and 850 μm the total mass of the cloud is estimated to be ∼ 7000