Colloq Abstract - Ginsburg
Nov 18
11am Mountain
Adam Ginsburg
High-mass star formation in the Galaxy's densest environments
Abstract
High mass stars provide most of the light associated with star formation and dominate feedback wherever they are formed. I will discuss observational results on different modes and scales of feedback in high-mass star forming regions and the broader implications on theories of star and cluster formation. I will present ALMA and JVLA observations of a high-mass star-forming region in which dozens of O-stars have already formed, yet the gas mass is still much larger than the stellar mass. The most massive protostellar 'cores' consist of surprisingly large volumes of warm gas, yet dense gas around other high-mass stars is not correspondingly warm. While high mass stars are evaporating their surrounding material, they are doing so inefficiently, suggesting that protocluster clumps form stars until they are able to exhaust their food source. Outflows play only a minor role in these systems, but they are important signposts of accretion. Thermal feedback from accreting stars appears to be the most important process governing stellar masses.
