This three-year award for US-France cooperative research in stellar astronomy involves Moshe Elitzur of the University of Kentucky and Thierry Montmerle of the Centre d'Etude de Saclay. The project addresses star formation (how and why do stars form?) by modeling the spectral energy distributions of young stars. The researchers will perform detailed analysis of radiation observed from IR to mm-wavelengths in star forming regions. The US group brings to this collaboration theoretical expertise and experience in studying emissions of heavy mass objects. This is complemented by French expertise in detailed studies of emissions from low-mass pre-main-sequence objects. Together they will develop a two dimensional code for interpretation of observational data provided by the French astronomers.
