Intermediate and Low-mass Young Stellar Populations in the Magellanic Clouds

麦哲伦星云中的中质量和低质量年轻恒星族

• 批准号: 2758988
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Keele University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2758988
• 关键词: Intermediate; Low; mass; Young; Stellar

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (MCs) are the nearest templates for the detailed study of star formation under metal-poor conditions. These galaxies mirror the conditions typical of galaxies during the early phases of their assembly, providing a stepping stone to understand star formation at high redshift where such processes cannot be directly observed. This PhD research will use near-IR photometry from the Vista Magellanic Cloud (VMC) Survey combined with optical photometry from the SMASH survey to constrains and characterise young stellar populations in the MCs. This project focuses on two 1.2 degree squared regions in the sky, one in each galaxy, that contain well over two million sources observed over 20 epochs. The student will perform PSF photometry on the VMC images of these regions, using tools developed by consortium members, for which at medium length work visit is envisaged. The point sources represent different stellar populations, that need to be disentangled so that the young stars can be identified and characterised. The student will use statistical methods including supervised machine learning to identify young stars, construct the Initial Mass Function across whole star formation complexes, map and quantify the true extent of these regions and the interplay with the gas and dust. This project can also make use of the VMC survey multi-epoch data to characterise massive young stellar variability across the MCs, to constrain any environmental dependence on the galactic environment. The available light curves need to be analysed to identify and characterise variables, the most extreme of which are the young stars.

大麦哲伦星云和小麦哲伦星云（MC）是详细研究贫金属条件下恒星形成的最接近的模板。这些星系反映了星系在其组装的早期阶段的典型条件，为理解高红移下的恒星形成提供了一个垫脚石，而这种过程无法直接观察到。这项博士研究将使用维斯塔麦哲伦星云 (VMC) 巡天的近红外光度测量与 SMASH 巡天的光学光度测量相结合，来限制和表征 MC 中的年轻恒星群体。该项目重点关注天空中两个 1.2 度平方的区域，每个星系一个，其中包含在 20 个历元中观测到的超过 200 万个源。学生将使用联盟成员开发的工具对这些区域的 VMC 图像进行 PSF 光度测量，预计将进行中等长度的工作访问。点源代表不同的恒星族群，需要将其解开，以便识别和表征年轻恒星。学生将使用包括监督机器学习在内的统计方法来识别年轻恒星，构建整个恒星形成复合体的初始质量函数，绘制和量化这些区域的真实范围以及与气体和尘埃的相互作用。该项目还可以利用 VMC 巡天多历元数据来表征跨 MC 的大量年轻恒星的变化，以限制对银河系环境的任何环境依赖。需要分析可用的光变曲线来识别和表征变量，其中最极端的是年轻恒星。