2026 Project Description

Dispersing the Mass Reservoir of Forming Stars

Supervisors

Hsi-Wei Yen
Find out more about supervisors on ASIAA website

Task Description and Goals

Understanding star formation efficiency—how much of a molecular cloud ultimately becomes a star—is a fundamental question in astrophysics. It directly affects how stars, planets, and galaxies form and evolve. While gravity drives mass accretion during star formation, various feedback processes can limit how much material a star can acquire. This project focuses on the late stages of star formation, when protostellar outflows may disperse the surrounding dense core and eventually shut off mass accretion.

Students will study a sample of protostars using Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations to characterize outflow properties such as velocity structure, momentum, and kinetic energy. These outflow properties will be compared with dense core characteristics—including core mass, density, and turbulence—derived from single-dish molecular line and continuum data. By examining how outflow strength correlates with core properties and evolutionary stage, students will investigate whether protostellar feedback progressively weakens gravitational binding and dissipates the mass reservoir.

This project is ideal for students interested in star formation, observational astronomy, and data analysis, and offers hands-on experience working with real astronomical data from world-class facilities.

Required Background

Basic knowledge of Physics. Experience in Linux/Unix systems and programming is desirable but not required.