Molecules and the Process of Star and Planet Formation

Edwin Bergin和Nuria Calvert（密歇根大学）将采取全面的观测和理论方法，以解开我们对恒星，行星形成和含水世界起源的理解中存在的一些重大不确定性。 该研究计划将对目前关于大质量恒星形成的争议提供观测评论，并研究当地太阳附近和大多数恒星诞生的5千秒差距分子环之间的星星形成是否相似。 他们将使用新发现的H2发射特征直接探测年轻恒星周围5-10天文单位轨道半径内的气体。这些观测将比以前在这一领域的努力更敏感100倍，角分辨率更高50倍。 作为该计划的一部分，他们将描述并展示使用分子发射来探测形成巨型原行星的观测特征的巨大前景。这将为长期观测计划播下种子，使用阿塔卡马大型毫米波阵列进行行星探测。他们还将使用新的设施来寻找原行星盘中的H2O排放。结合新的数据和化学理论，他们将限制从恒星诞生到行星形成的水循环。这个研究计划包括几个不同的领域，包括：天文学，化学，物理学，（天文）生物学和教育。因此，它具有明显的跨学科性和广泛的影响。 该项目还包括培训下一代科学家，使他们能够利用未来的设施，这些设施是国家在天文科学方面的一项关键投资，如阿塔卡马大型毫米阵列、赫歇尔、平流层红外天文台、詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜和计划中的地面大型光学/红外望远镜。

Drs. Edwin Bergin and Nuria Calvert (University of Michigan) will undertake a comprehensive observational and theoretical approach to unlock some significant uncertainties that remain in our understanding of the formation of stars, planets, and the origin of water-bearing worlds. The program of research will provide observational comment on current controversies regarding the formation of massive stars and examine whether star formation is similar between the local solar neighborhood and in the 5 kiloparsec Molecular Ring where the majority of stars are born. They will use a newly identified H2 emission feature to directly detect gas within an orbital radius of 5-10 Astronomical Units around young stars. These observations will be ~100 times more sensitive with ~50 times more angular resolution than previous efforts in this area. As part of this program, they will characterize and show the tremendous promise of using molecular emission to detect the observational signatures of forming giant protoplanets. This will sow the seeds for a long-term observational program to use the Atacama Large Millimeter Array for planet detection. They will also use new facilities to search for H2O emission in protoplanetary disks. With the combination of new data and chemical theory they will constrain the water cycle from the beginnings of stellar birth to planet formation.This research program encompasses several disparate fields including: astronomy, chemistry, physics, (astro)biology, and education. As such it has clear cross-discipline and broad impact. This project also contains training for the next generation of scientists to be capable of taking advantage of future facilities that represent a key national investment in astronomical science, such as the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, Herschel, The Stratosphereic Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the planned ground-based large optical/infrared telescope.