Wise-allsky

Matthew Povich (Cal Poly Pomona) -- Calibrating Star Formation Rates in the Milky Way's Biggest, Baddest Young Star-Forming Regions

April
27
S M T W T F S

Measuring the star formation rate (SFR), defined as the mass of gas converted to stars per year, is taking the pulse of a galaxy. The SFR is a fundamental parameter in theoretical models of galaxy evolution and governs the observed properties of galaxies. The most widely-used empirical measurements of the SFR in both the Milky Way and external galaxies rely on indirect observational tracers sensitive to only the most massive 1% of stars. This state-of-the-art seems analogous to using only the tax returns and investment portfolios of the richest 1% of earners to diagnose U.S. economic activity. But we can now do better. Thanks to a wealth of new multiwavelength astronomical data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope, and complementary surveys from space and ground-based observatories, it is possible to directly resolve young stars, including protostars and pre-main-sequence stars with and without circumstellar disks, in the Milky Way's most massive star-forming regions—the kinds of high-luminosity regions that dominate observations of star-forming galaxies. I will describe my 5-year NSF CAREER research program to directly measure SFRs from the young stellar populations in these regions. Our SFRs will be calibrated against total infrared and radio emission, which will provide a new diagnostic that can map SFRs throughout the Milky Way and external galaxies.

Date: April 27th, 2016
Location: MR LCR