Astrophysics with the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey

该项目的动机是了解与大质量星星形成区相关的致密分子气体的银河系分布，并描述致密分子团的原恒星和原星团演化特征。这项工作是对Bolocam银河平面巡天（BGPS）发现的大约8000个源的光谱跟踪。这些区域的基本参数（如大小、质量和光度）的确定需要精确距离的知识。在这里，运动学距离是用光谱测量测量的，包括用海因里希·赫兹望远镜对整个BGPS目录样本同时观测HCO+和N2H+气体分子。的运动学距离推导出使用一个新开发的概率密度函数的方法，使表征的团块质量函数和映射到银河系的平面上的团块。BGPS团块的演化状态将通过结合现有的中红外，远红外，毫米和无线电连续测量与致密分子气体的新观测信息来探测。为了更好地了解银河系中大质量星星形成区的形成、演化和银河系分布，需要这些数据。导出的速度、运动学距离以及密集分子团特性和演化信息数据库将向科学界发布，并增强BGPS档案。该数据库将有助于规划未来十年阿塔卡马大型毫米波阵列（阿尔马）和扩展甚大阵列（eVLA）的有效后续计划。该项目有研究生和本科生的大力参与，将有助于培养下一代天文学家。

The motivation for this project is to understand the Galactic distribution of dense molecular gas associated with high-mass star formation regions and to characterize the protostellar and proto-cluster evolution of dense molecular clumps. This work is a spectroscopic follow up of about 8000 sources discovered with the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey (BGPS). The determination of fundamental parameters (such as sizes, masses, and luminosities), of these regions requires the knowledge of accurate distances. Here kinematic distances are measured with a spectroscopic survey comprised of simultaneous observations of the gas molecules HCO+ and N2H+ with the Heinrich Hertz Telescope toward the entire BGPS catalog sample. The kinematic distances are derived using a newly developed probability density function methodology which enables the characterization of the clump mass function and the mapping of the clumps onto the plane of the Galaxy. The evolutionary states of BGPS clumps will be probed by combining information from extant mid-infrared, far-infrared, millimeter, and radio continuum surveys with new observations of dense molecular gas. These data are needed to better understand the formation, evolution, and Galactic distribution of high-mass star forming regions in the Milky Way.The derived velocities, kinematic distances, and a database of dense molecular clump properties and evolutionary information will be released to the scientific community and enhancing the BGPS archive. The database will be useful for planning efficient follow-up programs with Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the Expanded Very Large Array (eVLA) in the coming decade. This project has a strong participation of graduate and undergraduate students and will help to train the next generation of astronomers.