Starless cores: probing the initial conditions of star formation

无星核心代表了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，最近的观测显示了无恒星核心质量分布和恒星初始质量函数之间惊人的相似性，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内部的物理过程决定的。我最近的研究集中在对几个无星核的详细观察上，为核的形成和演化模型提供了新的约束。此提案仅寻求支持维多利亚大学的研究生参与令人兴奋的新项目，只有现在才有可能获得即将到来的工具机会。这些项目将包括使用新的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前所未有的大样本，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.