Sarah Willis, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
In extragalactic studies many different observables are used to trace the star formation history averaged over galaxy or kiloparsec scales. In our Galaxy we can directly count the number of young stars in nearby star forming complexes to determine the rate of star formation. However, initial results using this method found star formation rates more than an order of magnitude higher than those predicted by empirical relations derived for external galaxies. I will present the analysis of the star formation process in a number of different Milky Way molecular clouds that vary in overall star formation activity. I will describe how different assumptions and variables alter the derived star formation rate for these massive clouds, and how the star formation process varies in differing molecular cloud environments.
Présentée par le Groupe Astronomie et astrophysique du Département de physique de l'Université de Montréal. Cette conférence est destinée à des spécialistes dans le domaine de l'astrophysique et sera donnée en anglais.
