Structure in Star Forming Regions

Stars form in clumpy, highly substructured environments. In this thesis I set up N-body simulations of substructured star forming regions and investigate the impact that the substructure has on the survival of the star forming regions. I also present a broad range of methods used in other fields to quantify and identify structure. I discuss their strengths and shortcomings and assess their suitability for use in astronomical contexts. I use the Q and Λ methods to compare the distributions of class I and class II sources in observed star forming regions to learn more about the dynamical evolution of systems and infer whether they are bound or unbound.