Astrophysics of Single and Binary Star Formation

Suny At Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Investigators

Abstract

AST-0205427 PI Simon This is a program for measuring the masses of pre-main-sequence stars using millimeter wavelength interferometry. Accurate measurements of stellar masses are crucial data, and this work will provide answers to some fundamental astrophysical questions. In particular, it will provide observational constraints on two areas of astrophysical theory that are currently relatively poorly constrained: pre-main-sequence evolutionary tracks, and theories of binary star formation. The PI will also continue his program of the detection of faint secondary companions in single-lined spectroscopic binaries, both to measure the mass ratio distribution of binaries and to provide additional data to use for measuring masses when combined with resolved observations of binary star orbits.