Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Jul 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005hst..prop10519s&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #10519
Physics
Optics
Hst Proposal Id #10519 Star Formation
Scientific paper
The importance of massive stars cannot be underestimated - they produce most of the heavy elements in the universe and dominate the evolution of the interstellar medium in their vicinity. In spite of their significance, our understanding of their formation is meager. Both accretion through disks, analogous to the process of low-mass star formation, and coalescence of low-mass stars through collisions in the dense cores of stellar clusters have been suggested. Possibly both mechanisms occur. High spatial resolution polarization measurements of the closest massive young stellar objects {YSOs} will enable us to search for evidence of disk accretion or coalescence in the form of patterns indicative of light scattered off a coherent disk or off a disk disrupted by an infalling star, respectively. Here we propose to use 2 micron polarimetry with NICMOS to identify the presence of accretion disks around massive YSOs or to characterize their environments as possibly disrupted from a close stellar encounter. There are only a few sources that meet the stringent selection criteria for this investigation {even with HST}, which we will examine here. High spatial resolution is required, but even more important, the point spread function {PSF} must be stable with time. Furthermore, the PSF must put minimal flux into large spatial scales, something that cannot be achieved with adaptive optics. This combination of high Strehl ratio and stable PSF can only be achieved from space.
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