Molecular complexity in low-metallicity astrophyical environments

• Applicant: Professor Peter Schilke, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426501126

The Magellanic Clouds represent, with their low metallicity and high UV field, the closest local analogy to conditions in the early universe. They are close enough that detailed processes of high mass star formation can be observed with powerful telescopes such as ALMA. We had obtained such data, allowing to make an inventory of the molecular and protostellar content of 20 regions throughout the Large Magellanic Cloud. The specific aim was to determine the content of complex organic molecules (COMs) in hot cores in the LMC, and to compare it with the star formation properties of the regions. The COM content traces the dust temperature in the early phases of star formation, which impacts the Jeans mass and thereby the fragmentation properties, and the clump mass function of the cores. This was the basis of an accepted DFG Proposal for a PhD position. While analyzing the data, we realized that there are uncertainties in the determination of the mass and the evolutionary stages, which could be resolved by analyzing data at other wavelengths. Therefore, we have proposed and obtained the necessary data in the meantime: ATCA cm data to characterize the content and contribution of the ionized gas component, and VMC IR data to determine the stellar content of our sources. With this proposal, we want to extend the PhD project by one year to include these new data in the source characterization, which should result in a much better determination of the evolutionary status of the sources, and makes the comparison with the molecular data much more meaningful.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants