Most low mass stars, like the Sun, form in dense stellar clusters with membership greater than one hundred. One of the outstanding questions of star formation is how does this occur. To address this question, Dr Tyler Bourke and his collaborators will undertake high resolution molecular line and dust continuum observations of dense cores in molecular clouds forming stellar clusters. They will determine the physical, kinematic and chemical structure of these cores, and compare them to starless cores in more isolated regions, and to models of cluster formation currently being advanced. The particular focus of this program is to study the initial conditions for star formation in these regions, by determining in detail the structure of the low-mass starless cores that will eventually collapse to form individual stars, and using this information to test models of cluster formation.
This program will utilize the new generation of interferometers operating at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths, the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA), the Submillimeter Array (SMA), and the Australia Telescope Compact Array at millimeter wavelengths (ATCA-mm). These are the precursors to the next generation millimeter array telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) which will come online early in the next decade and revolutionize millimeter astronomy.
Dr Bourke and his collaborators will work with graduate and undergraduate students during this study, through the Smithsonian Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program and through the Harvard Astronomy Department, to train them in the use of millimeter interferometers and the scientific questions to which they are uniquely suited, and so better position the US community in the use of ALMA.
