Starless cores: probing the initial conditions of star formation

没有恒星的核心代表恒星形成的初始条件，这些核心的观测特征对于理解恒星演化至关重要。例如，最近的观测显示，没有恒星的核心质量分布与恒星初始质量函数有惊人的相似之处，这表明恒星质量(以及随后的恒星演化)是由形成核心的母云中的物理过程决定的。我最近的研究集中在对几个没有恒星的核心的详细观察上，为核心形成和演化的模型产生了新的限制。这项提议只寻求支持维多利亚大学的一名研究生参与令人兴奋的新项目，只有现在才有可能利用即将到来的乐器机会。这些项目将包括利用新的JCMT仪器Scuba-2和HARP以及新的HSO仪器PACS和SPIRE从附近的恒星形成分子云中获取史无前例的大量无恒星核心样本，从而最终得出关于核心结构、动力学和质量的明确结论。

Starless cores represent the initial conditions of star formation and observational characterization of these cores is critical to understand stellar evolution. For example, recent observations have shown a striking similarity between the starless core mass distribution and the stellar Initial Mass Function, suggesting that stellar mass (and subsequent stellar evolution) is determined by physical processes within parent clouds that form cores. My recent research has focused on detailed observations of several starless cores, yielding new constraints for models of core formation and evolution. This proposal seeks ONLY support for a graduate student at the University of Victoria to become involved in exciting new projects only now possible with upcoming instrumental opportunities. These projects will include obtaining unprecedentedly large samples of starless cores from nearby star-forming molecular clouds with the new JCMT instruments SCUBA-2 and HARP and the new HSO instruments PACS and SPIRE, allowing definitive conclusions to be finally made about core structures, dynamics and masses.