CAREER: Probing the Extremes of Star Formation: A Census of Very Low-Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in the Local Neighborhood

职业：探索恒星形成的极端：对当地附近的极低质量恒星和褐矮星进行普查

• 批准号: 1255568
• 负责人: Andrew West
• 金额: $ 78.36万
• 依托单位: Trustees of Boston University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1255568&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Probing; Extremes; Star; Formation

Very low-mass (VLM) stars and brown dwarfs make up the smallest, least luminous, but one of the most dominant baryonic populations of the Milky Way. They are vital probes of the smallest extremes of the star formation process, and their properties inform us about the boundary conditions and variations in the formation and evolution of all stars. However, despite their ubiquity and importance, samples of VLMs have historically been small due to their intrinsic faintness. The PI will build a comprehensive, cross-matched catalog of VLMs that were observed in the UKIDSS, WISE, 2MASS and SDSS all-sky surveys. He will measure proper motions for more than 100,000 VLMs, which will be the largest sample of VLM common-proper motion pairs ever assembled. He will also conduct a parallax program at the 4.3m Discovery Channel Telescope to measure accurate distances to more than 100 VLMs within 33 parsecs of the Sun. This work is essential to address the previous deficiencies in our cataloging of VLMs and VLM binaries, and it will provide a vital new understanding of how low mass and very low-mass stars form.The PI will integrate his science mission with diversity efforts by creating the Boston University (BU) Pre-Majors (Pre-MaP) program. His program will directly address the national need for additional STEM majors by increasing the number of underrepresented students in the physical sciences. BU Pre-MaP will expose first-year underrepresented students to research, and it will increase the participation and diversity in astronomy and STEM disciplines.

极低质量（VLM）恒星和褐矮星组成了银河系中最小、最不发光，但却是最主要的重子星群之一。它们是恒星形成过程最小极端的重要探测器，它们的特性告诉我们所有恒星形成和演化的边界条件和变化。然而，尽管 VLM 无处不在且很重要，但由于其固有的微弱性，其样本在历史上一直很小。 PI 将建立一个全面的、交叉匹配的 VLM 目录，这些目录是在 UKIDSS、WISE、2MASS 和 SDSS 全天巡天中观测到的。他将测量超过 100,000 个 VLM 的自行，这将是迄今为止组装的 VLM 共固有运动对的最大样本。他还将在 4.3m 探索频道望远镜上开展视差项目，以精确测量太阳 33 秒差距内 100 多个 VLM 的距离。这项工作对于解决我们之前 VLM 和 VLM 双星编目中的缺陷至关重要，它将提供对低质量和极低质量恒星如何形成的重要新认识。PI 将通过创建波士顿大学 (BU) 专业预科 (Pre-MaP) 计划，将他的科学使命与多样性努力结合起来。他的计划将通过增加物理科学领域代表性不足的学生数量来直接满足国家对更多 STEM 专业的需求。 BU Pre-MaP 将使一年级代表性不足的学生参与研究，并将增加天文学和 STEM 学科的参与度和多样性。