Jets from Young Stars and Their Impact on Star Formation

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

Observations using some of the world's most modern radio telescopes will be used to help scientists understand how stars like our sun are formed. Stars form as gas and dust from interstellar space spirals down onto a central object (much like water flowing down a bath tub drain). However, at the same time, these baby stars drive supersonic jets of gas back out into space. Astronomers are only now beginning to understand this complex process. The Principal Investigator (PI) on this proposal will use advanced computer models to show how this process actually works, focusing in particular on regions very close to the central young star. He will test his models using observations from two large arrays of radio dishes, one in Chile, the other in Hawaii. The PI will do much of this work with a graduate student. Together, the PI and student also aim to expand programs and exhibitions for the public at Yale's Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium. Images and videos will be used to educate the public about how astronomical observations from large radio arrays help us better understand how stars, like our Sun, are created. This proposal describes a study of the environment surrounding protostars (on 10-1000 AU scales) using high resolution ALMA and SMA observations. The goal is to address key questions about the mass-assembling process and the impact of protostellar feedback on star formation. Molecular line observations will be combined with radiative transfer models to determine how the velocity, temperature, and density structure of the gas surrounding protostars evolves and how the infall and outflow processes change over time. The models include mechanical feedback but also radiative feedback and heating from ultraviolet photons produced in shocks close to the protostar. The results will inform our understanding of star formation efficiency in molecular cloud cores and the origin of stellar masses. A graduate student will be involved in this research effort throughout its 3-year duration.