N-body Interactions, Protostellar Explosions, & Feedback in Star Formation

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

The investigator studies how massive stars are formed. Massive stars have relatively short lives, quickly burning their hydrogen and helium into heavier elements, like carbon, oxygen and silicon. The production of heavy elements in stars is an essential step in the formation of planets and the emergence of life. While long-lived, low-mass stars like our Sun produce some light elements up to carbon, it is the luminous and short-lived massive stars that produce all the heavier elements. Thus, the rate of cosmic heavy-element enrichment is determined by the abundances of low- and high-mass stars. Stars form from the gravitational collapse and fragmentation of interstellar clouds. Star formation is self-regulated, limited by the injection of energy by new stars. Such feedback can terminate accretion and help to set the final stellar masses. Measuring feedback impacts is one of the goals of this proposal. At the end of stellar life, massive stars explode as supernovae and their freshly synthesized elements are mixed into interstellar clouds. The relative abundance of low- and high-mass stars is determined by star formation. Stars are almost never born alone. Most stars form in clusters and groups where gravity can lead to interactions among stars. As stars move about inside a cloud, gas drag can lead to orbit decay. Close encounters can trigger accretion from their circumstellar disks onto the stars to produce luminous flares. The investigator has several goals. They will analyze the Orion explosion and its impact on the environment. Then they will determine how common Orion-like protostellar explosions are and measure their feedback impacts. To achieve their goals, they will use radio astronomy methods to search for accretion-powered explosions from young stars and numerically model protostellar encounters to estimate their roles in setting stellar masses Science is the driver of technology with drives future economic landscapes. The investigator promotes public discourse on the foundational role of pure research for establishing new technologies. This research will provide training in multi-wavelength astrophysics and the use of new observational tools, data-mining and numerical modeling. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.