NRAO/Socorro Colloquium Series
John Bally
University of Colorado at Boulder
Stellar Feedback and the Ecology of the Galactic ISM
Large-scale surveys of the Milky Way complemented by high-resolution studies of small fields are revolutionizing our understanding of the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM) and star formation. There are no “initial conditions” for star formation. Every state of the ISM is dynamic and an evolutionary consequence of a prior state in the Galactic Ecology powered by a combination of galactic processes (spiral arms, the bar, etc.) and super-bubbles created by massive star-clusters and OB associations.
I will describe the feedback ladder – a chain of increasingly powerful mechanisms consisting of protostellar outflows, FUV and EUV radiation, radiation pressure, and stellar winds and supernovae. The feedback ladder regulates cloud properties (turbulence, lifetime) and may play a major role in determining the stellar initial mass function (IMF), the star formation efficiency (SFE), and on its highest rung, responsible for the Galactic ecology.
November 9, 2012
11:00 am
Array Operations Center Auditorium
All NRAO employees are invited to attend via video, available in Charlottesville Room 230, Green Bank Room 137 and Tucson N525.
Local Host: Miller Goss
