The Eye of the Storm: A Detailed Study of Star Formation in our Extreme Galactic Center

卡拉巴特斯比被授予美国国家科学基金会天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在哈佛史密森天体物理中心开展研究和教育计划。巴特斯比将对银河系最内层的致密分子气体进行射电天文观测，该区域被称为中央分子区（CMZ）。研究CMZ是重要的，因为它提供了一个罕见的一瞥气体是如何在银河系中心附近的高温，稠密和湍流条件下转化为恒星的。由于早期宇宙中的大多数恒星都被认为是在类似于CMZ中发现的极端条件下形成的，因此拟议中的研究将有助于更好地了解早期宇宙中的星星形成。巴特斯比还将开发一个以来自代表性不足背景的本科生为中心的导师和科学交流项目，以提高这些学生在科学和技术领域的保留率。因为恒星是从冷的、塌缩的分子云中形成的，这些分子云以长波长辐射出大部分能量，用亚毫米波阵列（SMA）进行观测的建议非常适合于研究银河系CMZ中深深嵌入的星星的形成。利用SMA，巴特斯比正在领导对CMZ的第一次宽场亚秒差距调查，该调查将：（1）对CMZ中的致密核心进行全面普查;（2）将它们的基本性质与银河系盘中的恒星形成云进行比较;（3）确定CMZ中的星星形成是否与假设的临界密度或星星形成的普遍关系一致。对于她的计划的教育部分，巴特斯比将招募本科生的背景，传统上是代表性不足的干，以发展他们成为有效的科学传播者。 然后，新兵将参加教育活动，将现代科学研究的概念带到波士顿地区服务不足的高中。

Cara Battersby is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Battersby will undertake radio astronomical observations of dense molecular gas within the innermost regions of the Milky Way, known as the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ). Studying the CMZ is important, because it provides a rare glimpse of how gas is converted into stars under the hot, dense, and turbulent conditions present near the center of the Galaxy. Because most stars in the early universe are thought to have formed under extreme conditions similar to those found in the CMZ, the proposed studies would enable a better understanding of star formation in the early universe. Battersby will also develop a mentorship and science communication program centered around undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds, to enhance the retention of these students in scientific and technological fields.Because stars form from cool, collapsing molecular clouds which radiate most of their energy at long wavelengths, the proposed observations with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) are ideally suited to the study of deeply embedded star formation in the Galaxy's CMZ. With the SMA, Battersby is leading the first wide-field subparsec survey of the CMZ, which will: (1) yield a comprehensive census of dense cores in the CMZ; (2) compare their basic properties with star-forming clouds in the Galactic disk; and (3) determine if star formation in the CMZ is consistent with a hypothesized critical density or universal relationship for star formation. For the educational component of her program, Battersby will recruit undergraduate students from backgrounds that are traditionally underrepresented in STEM to develop them into effective science communicators. The recruits will then participate in educational events to bring concepts from modern scientific research to underserved high schools in the Boston area.