Star Formation Research

 

Left: T Tauri star with a hot spot surrounded by an accretion disk with an inner hole, viewed at an inclination of 60 degrees (90 degrees is edge-on). This is a Monte Carlo radiation transfer calculation showing the light emitted and scattered by this source. You'd have to have a really really big telescope in space to see such a close-up view as this.

 

We have several projects in this field. Most involve using radiation transfer codes to connect theory and observation. For example, a theoretical model will calculate the expected density structure of an collapsing cloud that is forming a star in the middle. We will calculate how radiation propagates through this envelope and what you would see from the earth and compare this to observations. We'll update soon with more recent results.

Jets

Near-IR Images and Dust properties

HL Tau models

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