Star formation and magnetic fields in the interstellar medium

The process of star formation is one of the most important unsolved problems in modern astrophysics.

Understanding the origin of the mass distribution of new stars (the Initial Mass Function), and the cause of the very low efficiency with which these stars form, is crucial to questions as diverse as how galaxies evolve, and how solar systems such as our own are born.

One of the key unknowns in the star formation process is the role and dynamic importance of interstellar magnetic fields in mediating the gravitational collapse of star-forming regions.

We are at the beginning of a revolution in our ability to deduce the properties of these interstellar magnetic fields, driven by instrumentation such as the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Planck satellite, which are capable of measuring polarised dust emission on size scales ranging from the spiral arms of the Milky Way through to the discs around young stars.

This project will use far-infrared and submillimetre polarimetric instrumentation, primarily the JCMT and ALMA, to observe dust polarisation, and so magnetic field properties, in a variety of star-forming regions within the Milky Way.

These observations will be used to investigate the existence or otherwise of distinct weak- and strong-field modes of star formation, and so the role of magnetic fields in determining star formation efficiency and the mass distribution of new stars.