CAREER: Observing the Physics of Star Formation in Galaxies

Ohio State University, The, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

The team will use a new facility, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), to observe the cold gas inside galaxies. The team will study the details of how stars form in the cold gas. These details will enable strong tests of competing theories of star formation. Senior team members will mentor junior members, including undergraduate students who have disabilities. The PI will engage high school students from Ohio in hands-on, astronomy-themed projects. The team will use ALMA's unrivaled angular resolution, wavelength coverage and sensitivity to study the physical conditions in the cold gas inside galaxies. Their goals are to (1) measure the variations in volume densities to test theories that posit gas density as the main driver of star formation; (2) make the first systematic measurements of the cloud-scale structure, density, turbulence, and self-gravity of the gas in a representative sample of galaxies; (3) model the life-cycle of star-forming clouds and constrain the dominant cloud destruction mechanism; and (4) develop, refine, and disseminate new methods to handle the complex data analysis.