The Physics of Star Formation Feedback and Molecular Cloud Destruction

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When stars form in clouds of interstellar gas, the starlight changes the energy and chemistry of these clouds. Each new star can change the clouds in different ways. Some stars destroy the clouds, while others may compress clouds to start formation of new stars. In some cases, a chain reaction creates many new stars. The huge energy increase leads to spectacular, large scale, outflows of material from star forming galaxies. The investigators will model the changes to galaxies resulting for star formation. They will use an innovative mathematical method to analyze star forming regions in our galaxy. The investigator's primary goal is to better understand the mechanisms through which these star-cloud interactions occur. The results of this work will guide our understanding of star forming galaxies. The investigator will mentor promising undergraduate students who are participating in the Virginia-North Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation's Summer Research Program at the University of Virginia.The principal investigator and collaborators will use a state-of-the-art radiation magneto-hydrodynamics code to perform numerical simulations that model various mechanisms for star formation feedback. The numerical simulations will focus on the role played by the radiation produced by massive stars. This will include modeling the heating and ionization of the surrounding gas, as well as radiation pressure forces on dust embedded in the gas. The investigators will study how a star cluster affects its own gas supply as it forms and evolves. Complimentary simulations will explore larger scales and attempt to constrain what role, if any, radiation plays in supporting molecular gas clouds against gravitational collapse. Other simulations will look at the role radiation and supernova play in launching and accelerating galaxy scale outflows of atomic and molecular gas.As mentioned above, the investigator will mentor promising undergraduate students at the University of Virginia. The students will develop skills and gain experience in astrophysics and high performance computing by actively participating in the proposed research. One graduate student will develop their thesis from this project.