Star Formation and the Interstellar Medium

《恒星形成与星际介质》AST-0098365恒星形成在现代天体物理学中具有重要意义。恒星，特别是大质量恒星，通过它们产生的风和发出的辐射对它们的环境产生深远的影响。该奖项涵盖的研究的总体目标是了解恒星是如何从湍流的星际介质中形成的，以及恒星注入的能量如何决定恒星形成的星际介质的性质。提出了一系列研究，每一项研究都涉及我们银河系和盘状星系中的恒星形成问题，而不是我们自己的星系。在我们自己的星系中，低质量恒星的形成过程将受到特别关注。大型星系团中的恒星形成也将被研究。大型星团包含比太阳质量大得多的恒星，甚至不清楚在最初几颗恒星造成环境破坏的情况下，恒星形成是如何进行的。在本奖项期间讨论的第三项工作将是试图了解气体在不同阶段的分布。分子、冷原子和热原子气体的相对比例将被确定，这将反过来导致星系内总体上的自洽恒星形成率。

" Star Formation and the Interstellar Medium "AST- 0098365Star formation is of central importance in modern astrophysics. Stars, particularly massive stars, have a profound effect on their environment through both the winds they produce and the radiation they emit. The overall goal of the research covered by this award is to understand how stars form from the turbulent interstellar medium and how, in turn, energy injection from stars determines the properties of the interstellar medium out of which the stars form. A series of investigations is proposed, each of which is concerned with the problem of star formation both in our galaxy and in disk galaxies other than our own. In our own galaxy, special attention will be given to the process of low-mass star formation. Star formation in large clusters will also be investigated. Large clusters contain stars much more massive than the Sun and it is not at all clear how star formation can even proceed in the presence of the environmental disruption produced by just the first few stars. A third effort addressed during the present award will be an attempt to understand the distribution of gas among various phases. The relative proportions of molecular, cold atomic and warm atomic gas will be determined which will lead in turn to a self-consistent star formation rate within galaxies in general.