Molly Wells   (United Kingdom)

wells @ mpia.de

Dynamical Accretion Flows

High-mass stars drive many of the fundamental processes in astrophysics. Looking at how they form and evolve will help us understand both the small and large-scale influence they have on the universe around them. To do this we are starting with two questions; What are the properties of accretion flows in star-forming clusters? How is the gas fed from the parental gas clump onto individual cores? To address these questions, we are investigating, within the ALMA large program ALMAGAL, the kinematic gas properties of a carefully selected sub-sample of 100 regions.  The sample consists of all evolutionary stages from very young still quiescent clumps via those with embedded protostars to more evolved HII regions. Analysing the ALMAGAL spectral line properties, e.g., their peak velocities as well as velocity dispersion, allows us to study the dynamical properties of the gas, identify potential accretion flows and estimate the corresponding flow rates. Importantly, we will set these parameters into context with the evolutionary stages of the regions.

Supervisor:    Henrik Beuther   (MPIA)