Kinematic Reconstruction of the Origin and IMF of the Massive Young Clusters at the Galactic Center

Details Kinematic Reconstruction of the Origin and IMF of the Massive Young Clusters at the Galactic Center Kinematic Reconstruction of the Origin and IMF of the Massive Young Clusters at the Galactic Center

Jul 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009hst..prop12318g&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #12318. Cycle 18

Physics

Optics

Scientific paper

We propose to exploit the wide field capabilities of Wide Field Camera 3 to study star formation at the Galactic center. By studying young stars located in the most physically extreme region of our Galaxy, we can test star formation theories, which suggest that such environments should favor high mass stars and, in extreme cases, should suppress star formation entirely. Specifically, we will measure the proper motions and photometry of stars over the full extent of the three massive young clusters that have been identified at the Galactic Center {Arches, Quintuplet, and the Young Nuclear Star Cluster}. These observations are a factor of ?2000 more efficient than what can be done with ground-based adaptive optics. Our goals are two-fold. First, we hope to establish the initial sites of star formation in order to obtain an accurate estimate of the conditions that led to the stellar populations within these clusters. Answering this question for the Young Nuclear Star Cluster is particularly important as it establishes whether or not star formation can indeed proceed within 0.1 pc of our GalaxyÕs supermassive black hole. Second, we will measure the IMF in the Arches and Quintuplet, where dynamical evolution is less severe, using proper motions to determine membership and to reveal the tidal radius. Probing how the properties of the emergent stellar populations within our Galaxy may be affected by the physical environment in which they arise is an important first step to understanding how they might vary as a function of cosmic time and thereby affect our models of galaxy formation and evolution.;

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