Deep near-infrared imaging toward the Vela Molecular Ridge C. II. New protostars and embedded clusters in Vela C

We present new candidates for protostars and embedded clusters detected in our deep near-infrared (J, H, K(S)) imaging survey of cloud C of the Vela Molecular Ridge (Vela C). We selected protostar candidates on the basis of positional coincidences with Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) and/or IRAS sources and the slopes of their spectral energy distributions from 2 to 25 mu m. For embedded clusters, we selected them on the basis of positional coincidence with MSX and/or IRAS sources and enhancement of stellar number densities. We identified 31 sources as protostar candidates and 5 clusters as embedded clusters; 28 protostar candidates and 3 embedded clusters were newly identified. Most of them are associated with the C(18)O clumps distributed throughout Vela C. We calculated the bolometric luminosities of the protostar candidates by integrating the observed fluxes from near-to far-infrared, and then estimated the mass range to be from 0.9 to 4.0 M(circle dot), assuming their ages at the birth line. There is a correlation between the number of members and the K(S) magnitude of the brightest star in the embedded clusters.