Other
Scientific paper
Jan 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21332706f&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #327.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.384
Other
Scientific paper
The dense cores of dust and gas which form stars have long been objects of study, but recent observations suggest that the initial mass function (IMF) of stars may arise directly from the mass function of these dense cores; to understand the initial conditions of star formation it is therefore crucial to understand dense cores. Near-infrared observations provide two different methods for constraining dense core properties: extinction maps and studies of scattered light. In extinction mapping, background starlight is reddened as it passes through the core, allowing us to probe the density profile. We have extended this method to include background galaxies in an unbiased way, improving the noise and resolution possible in such maps (a procedure we call GNICER). Currently, the gains are largest for clouds far from the galactic plane, but deeper surveys in the future will pick up an ever-growing number of galaxies. Extinction mapping requires us to understand the extinction law, so we have surveyed large portions of a single molecular cloud (Perseus), to study small variations in the extinction law with density across a single cloud. We find a change in the red-optical/NIR extinction law as a function of density. Finally, dense cores also scatter the interstellar radiation field. In the near-infrared, this scattering dominates over other sources of light, resulting in a uniquely useful phenomena we call "Cloudshine". In a few simple situations, we have inverted Cloudshine images to infer the dust density profile of dense cores at unprecedented resolution (a few arcseconds). Over larger regions, Cloudshine can be used to make statistical comparisons between real molecular clouds and simulations thereof.
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