CAREER: Charting the Formation, Transformation, and Destinies of Gas and Young Stars in the Solar Neighborhood

The Principal Investigator (PI) and her team will study the lifecycle of galactic normal matter, also known as baryonic matter. While the baryon cycle has been well-studied in the local universe, our knowledge of the cycling of material in our own Milky Way is limited. This team will produce an integrated 3D model of gas and young stars in the solar neighborhood.

Their “bird’s-eye” view of the baryon cycle near the Sun will enable high-resolution comparisons between galactic and extragalactic star formation. The project will support a graduate student and a post-doctoral scholar, who will generate models of interstellar clouds and bubbles, alongside their associated young stellar clusters. The PI plans to mentor two post-baccalaureate students, who will perform case studies of individual star-forming regions in the new 3D model.

The PI also plans to be the scientific lead of the newly-launched STARS (Scientists Taking Astronomy to Rural Schools) program at the Center for Astrophysics, which will provide telescopes and training to rural high schools across the United States. Within the STARS program, the PI will develop and launch a new learning module linking the “2D” sky observable with these telescopes to the new 3D motion picture of our local Milky Way.

Leveraging advances in 3D dust mapping and young stellar cluster modeling enabled by Gaia, this team will produce three novel observational data products describing the solar neighborhood. First, they will leverage techniques from the field of topological data analysis to produce new 3D spatial models of gaseous features (e.g. clouds and voids) detected in recent 3D dust maps.

Linking 3D dust maps with the dynamics of the gas obtainable from spectral-line maps, the team will produce new models of gas flows around these features. And finally, the team will generate a new pipeline for analyzing the ages and masses of nearby young stellar clusters to place new constraints on the relationship between these gaseous features and the star formation and supernova feedback activity of their associated young stellar populations.

When combined, these data products will lead to new understanding of how molecular clouds form out of the diffuse interstellar medium, how star formation varies as a function of environment, and how supernova feedback shapes molecular cloud growth and regulates star formation. The data and software will be publicly released and incorporated into a new 3D interactive visualization of the solar neighborhood viewable by anyone with an internet connection.

This interactive 3D visualization dashboard will allow both astronomers and the public to explore these never-before-seen 3D views of gas and young stars in the solar neighborhood.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.