CAREER: Investigations of the Formation and Evolution of Stars in Young Embedded Clusters

9733367拉达近红外波长成像测量恒星的最新结果表明，我们银河系中的大多数恒星都是在密集的嵌入星团的环境中形成的。这些新结果将在多大程度上改变我们目前对恒星形成物理学的理解尚不清楚。然而，人们预计会发现，与更孤立的区域相比，在如此密集的区域中年轻恒星的形成和早期演化存在根本的差异。因此，确定嵌入星系团中年轻恒星的性质对于理解恒星形成和早期恒星演化的过程以及估计我们银河系中存在行星系统的总体可能性是至关重要的。将对11个年轻的嵌入或部分嵌入的星团进行广泛和系统的宽带红外和毫米波长研究。这些星团的年龄从100万年到7000万年不等，跨越了从气态氢气区域到反射星云的各种环境。这项研究的主要目的是：1)构造和比较每个星系团的近红外波长光度函数和Hertzsprung-Russell图，研究恒星初始质量函数(IMF)的形状和普适性；2)确定和比较每个星系团中星周盘的频率和质量分布。除了为研究年轻星系团的恒星形成历史提供丰富的数据库外，这些观测还将首次对星系团环境中的恒星周围/原行星盘源进行全面和具有统计意义的普查。对不同年龄的星团数据的分析结果的比较将使人们能够估计密集恒星环境中盘状演化阶段的相对时间尺度。磁盘阶段的持续时间特别重要，因为它设定了行星格式的时间刻度。这一结果可以与现有的相对孤立地形成年轻恒星的研究相比较，这样做是为了确定在不同的天体物理环境中恒星及其圆盘的形成和演化的差异。该项目的一个组成部分是实施一项教育和外展计划，鼓励、教授和指导高中、大学本科生和研究生从事物理科学事业。该计划还强调了一项针对大学水平的本科生、普通公众和幼儿的科学推广计划。具体地说，计划：1)通过使用计算机为佛罗里达大学天文学本科生入门课程开发非传统教学方法；2)开发一门关于太阳系、恒星和生命起源的新课程。本课程将把最新研究项目的结果纳入课程材料。该课程将同时面向本科生和研究生。3)将组织一个关于恒星形成和相关主题的期刊俱乐部；4)将让各级学生参与研究活动；5)将组织一个妇女职业日研讨会，以鼓励女高中生考虑从事物理科学工作。6)将组织两次定期公开系列讲座，一次为成人，一次为儿童，主题为天文专题，以鼓励所有年龄段的公众对天文和科学感兴趣和欣赏。***

9733367 Lada The recent results from near-infrared wavelength imaging surveys have of stars have suggested that most stars in our Galaxy form in the environments of dense, embedded stellar clusters. The extent to which these new results should alter our current understanding of star formation physics is unclear. However, one would expect to find fundamental differences in the formation and early evolution of young stars in such dense regions as compared to more isolated regions. Therefore, establishing the properties of young stars in embedded clusters is essential to understanding the process of star formation and early stellar evolution and to estimate the overall likelihood of the existence of planetary systems in our Galaxy. An extensive and systematic broad-band infrared and millimeter wavelength study of 11 young embedded, or partially embedded, stellar clusters will be conducted. The stellar clusters range in age from 1 to 70 million years, and span a range of environment from gaseous hydrogen regions to reflection nebulae. The main goals of the research are: 1) to construct and compare the near-infrared wavelength luminosity functions and Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams for each cluster and to investigate the shape and universality of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) and 2) to determine and compare the frequency and mass distributions of circumstellar disks in each cluster. In addition to providing a rich data base for investigations of the star forming histories of young clusters, the observations will provide, for the first time, a complete and statistically significant census of circumstellar/proto-planetary disk sources in cluster environments. The comparison of the results of the analysis of the data for the stellar clusters with different ages will allow one to estimate the relative timescale for the disk phase of evolution within dense stellar environments. The duration of the disk phase is of particular importance, for it sets the time scale for planet format ion. The results can be compared to existing studies of young stars forming in relative isolation This will be done in order to determine the differences in the formation and evolution of stars and their disks in differing astrophysical environments. An integral part of this project is to carry out an educational and outreach plan that encourages, teaches, and mentors high school, college undergraduate and graduate students towards careers in the physical sciences. The plan also emphasizes a science outreach program directed toward college level undergraduates, the general public and young children. Specifically, it is planned to: 1) Develop non-traditional teaching methods via the use of computers for the introductory level astronomy undergraduate course at the University of Florida; 2) Develop a new course on the origins of the solar system, stars, and life. This course will integrate the results from recent research projects into the course material. The course will be developed for both an undergraduate and graduate level. 3) A journal club on star formation and related topics will be organized; 4) Students will be involved at all levels in the research activities; 5) A women's career day symposium will be organized for the purpose of encouraging women high school students to consider careers in the physical sciences. 6) Two regular public lecture series will be organized, one for adults and one for children, on astronomical topics to encourage an interest and appreciation of astronomy and science in general among the public at all age levels. ***