Presidential Young Investigator Award - Star Formation and the Interstellar Medium

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Dr. Vogel will conduct a research program with this Presidential Young Investigator award which will focus on the application of millimeter and centimeter wavelength astronomy techniques to the study of the interstellar medium and star formation. Three areas will be emphasized: the protostellar collapse phase, the evolution of ultracompact HII regions, and star formation in nearby spiral galaxies. Conclusive evidence for the collapse of an interstellar molecular cloud to make a star has been extremely difficult to obtain. One problem has been that the characteristic signatures of collapse become evident only on the smallest spatial scales, which makes high angular resolution observations essential. Another problem is that other gas motions such as outflow occur as the collapse continues. Dr. Vogel will concentrate on a sample of objects which do not show evidence of masking gas motions, and he will use newly available observational facilities and techniques in an attempt to obtain the elusive direct evidence of a cloud collapsing to form a star.