Revisiting the Perseus star-forming region: Membership, phase-space structure, mass, and energy distributions

Star-forming regions are fundamental benchmarks for the validation of star formation and stellar evolution theories. Perseus, being one of the youngest (< 10 Myr), closest (280−320 pc), and most studied star-forming regions in the literature, is a classic benchmark. We study the membership, phase-space structure, mass, and energy distribution of this star-forming region using public catalogues (Gaia, APOGEE, 2MASS, and Pan-STARRS) and various Bayesian methodologies. We find more than a thousand members which are split into seven physically distinct groups with ages between 3 and 10 Myr. All these groups are in a super-virial state and have large fractions of energetically unbound stars. Their mass distributions are broadly compatible with that of Chabrier and, contrary to previous results, show similar abundances of low-mass stars in NGC 1333 and IC 348. The star-formation history of this region is compatible with at least three generations of stars. However, it is currently unclear if the oldest triggered the formation of the youngest. In conclusion, our comprehensive Bayesian methodologies allow us to find 30% more members than in previous studies from the literature. Moreover, we discover a new physical group and confirm that the spatial, kinematic, and energy distributions of the Perseus star-forming region support the hierarchical star formation scenario.