Observing Protostellar Disks
Dr. Erin Cox
Northwestern University
The star formation rate in the Milky Way is extremely inefficient, with only ~1-10% of the available gas being converted to stars. This is due to turbulence, magnetic fields, and stellar feedback playing important roles in this process. Arguably, magnetic fields remain the least understood of these. Simulations have shown magnetic fields can control when a protostar forms a disk. Observational studies of cloud cores down to disks have attempted to look for morphology changes in this critical region, yet have mostly lacked proper spatial coverage to statistically determine how, or if, this occurs. Disk formation is important in the evolution of protostars and their subsequent planets. Constraining the age at which large, massive disks can form has implications for early planet formation. In this talk, I will show high-resolution, polarization observations of young protostars and their disks and discuss how scattering can help us constrain grain sizes in these systems.
Hosted by Dr. Taylor Tobin
All interested persons are invited to attend remotely—email physics@nd.edu for information.