Disrupting and Dispersing Star Clusters

大多数恒星被认为是在某种群体或星团中形成的。然而，这些星团并不能存活很长时间，因为一些未知的过程破坏了它们，并将它们的恒星内容分散到整个星系中。最近的研究表明，这种扩散既可能是高度爆炸性的，也可能是极不对称的，但其机制尚不清楚。过去，由于缺乏运动数据，我们研究这些分散的恒星系统的能力受到限制，但现在多亏了盖亚卫星和互补的多目标光谱仪的数据，这种情况正在改变。WEAVE是第一个下一代多目标摄谱仪，能够同时观测1000个目标，目前安装在加那利群岛的威廉赫歇尔望远镜上。在接下来的五年里，我们对年轻恒星的WEAVE调查将产生有史以来最大的年轻恒星光谱样本之一，使我们能够追踪它们的分布并研究它们的3D分布和运动学。该项目将把最先进的盖亚数据与新的WEAVE多目标光谱仪的光谱结合起来，研究分散星团的运动学，以了解造成它们剧烈破坏的物理机制。这个博士职位是获得第一个WEAVE数据并加入团队的好时机！

Most stars are thought to form within groups or clusters of some sort. However, these clusters do not survive for long, with some unknown process disrupting them and dispersing their stellar content throughout the galaxy. Recent studies have shown that this dispersal can be both highly explosive and dramatically asymmetric, yet the mechanisms responsible are still unknown. Our ability to study these dispersing stellar systems has been limited in the past by a lack of kinematic data, but this is changing now thanks to data from the Gaia satellite and complementary multi-object spectrographs. WEAVE is the first next-generation multi-object spectrograph, capable of observing 1000 targets at once, and currently being installed on the William Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands. Over the coming five years our WEAVE survey of young stars will generate one of the largest ever spectroscopic samples of young stars, allowing us to trace their distribution and study their 3D distribution and kinematics. This project will combine state-of-the-art Gaia data with spectroscopy from the new WEAVE multi-object spectrograph to study the kinematics of dispersing star clusters to understand the physical mechanisms responsible for their dramatic disruption. This PhD position is well-timed to get your hands on the first WEAVE data and join the team!