Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Observations of the Evolution of Massive Star-forming Regions

We present the results of a mid-infrared survey of 11 outer Galaxy massive star-forming regions and 3 open clusters with data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Using a newly developed photometric scheme to identify young stellar objects and exclude extragalactic contamination, we have studied the distribution of young stars within each region. These data tend to support the hypothesis that latter generations may be triggered by the interaction of winds and radiation from the first burst of massive star formation with the molecular cloud material leftover from that earlier generation of stars. We dub this process the "fireworks hypothesis" since star formation by this mechanism would proceed rapidly and resemble a burst of fireworks. We have also analyzed small cutout WISE images of the structures around the edges of these massive star-forming regions. We observe large (1-3 pc size) pillar and trunk-like structures of diffuse emission nebulosity tracing excited polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules and small dust grains at the perimeter of the massive star-forming regions. These structures contain small clusters of emerging Class I and Class II sources, but some are forming only a single to a few new stars

Submillimeter Imaging of NGC 891 with SHARC

The advent of submillimeter wavelength array cameras operating on large ground-based telescopes is revolutionizing imaging at these wavelengths, enabling high-resolution submillimeter surveys of dust emission in star-forming regions and galaxies. Here we present a recent 350 micron image of the edge-on galaxy NGC 891, which was obtained with the Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Camera (SHARC) at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). We find that high resolution submillimeter data is a vital complement to shorter wavelength satellite data, which enables a reliable separation of the cold dust component seen at millimeter wavelengths from the warmer component which dominates the far-infrared (FIR) luminosity.Comment: 4 pages LaTeX, 2 EPS figures, with PASPconf.sty; to appear in "Astrophysics with Infrared Surveys: A Prelude to SIRTF

ExoPTF Science Uniquely Enabled by Far-IR Interferometry: Probing the Formation of Planetary Systems, and Finding and Characterizing Exoplanets

By providing sensitive sub-arcsecond images and integral field spectroscopy in the 25 – 400 ìm wavelength range, a far-IR interferometer will revolutionize our understanding of planetary system formation, reveal otherwise-undetectable planets through the disk perturbations they induce, and spectroscopically probe the atmospheres of extrasolar giant planets in orbits typical of most of the planets in our solar system. The technical challenges associated with interferometry in the far-IR are greatly relaxed relative to those encountered at shorter wavelengths or when starlight nulling is required. A structurally connected far-IR interferometer with a maximum baseline length of 36 m can resolve the interesting spatial structures in nascent and developed exoplanetary systems and measure exozodiacal emission at a sensitivity level critical to TPF-I mission planning. The Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope was recommended in the Community Plan for Far-IR/Submillimeter Space Astronomy, studied as a Probe-class mission, and estimated to cost $800M. The scientific communities in Europe, Japan, and Canada have also demonstrated a keen interest in far-IR interferometry through mission planning workshops and technology research, suggesting the possibility of an international collaborative effort

Development of a broadband submillimeter grating spectrometer

One of the central issues in astronomy is the formation and evolution of galaxies at large redshifts. Submillimeter observations are essential to understanding these processes. One of the best prospects for high redshift submillimeter observations is the study of the C_(II) 158 micrometer fine- structure line, which carries about 0.2% of the total luminosity of nearby starburst galaxies. However, current heterodyne receivers at submillimeter observatories have insufficient bandwidth to detect the full extent of highly broadened emission lines. We are developing a broadband grating spectrometer for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory with a total bandwidth of ~3400 km/s and a velocity resolution of 200 km/s. The detectors will be a linear array of 32 close-packed monolithic silicon bolometers developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. In order to achieve background-limited sensitivity, the bolometers will be cooled to 100 mK by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. The spectrometer optics will consist of a tunable cryogenic immersion grating using broadband filters as order sorters. The spectrometer will be optimized to operate in the 350 µm and 450 µm atmospheric windows. Calculations of the sensitivity of the spectrometer reveal that an ultraluminous infrared galaxy of 10^(12) L_⊙ at a redshift of z = 1 would be detectable at the 3σ level in the C_(II) line with 20 minutes of integration time

First Digit Distribution of Hadron Full Width

A phenomenological law, called Benford's law, states that the occurrence of the first digit, i.e., $1,2,...,9$, of numbers from many real world sources is not uniformly distributed, but instead favors smaller ones according to a logarithmic distribution. We investigate, for the first time, the first digit distribution of the full widths of mesons and baryons in the well defined science domain of particle physics systematically, and find that they agree excellently with the Benford distribution. We also discuss several general properties of Benford's law, i.e., the law is scale-invariant, base-invariant, and power-invariant. This means that the lifetimes of hadrons follow also Benford's law.Comment: 8 latex pages, 4 figures, final version in journal publicatio

Shared visiting in Equator city

In this paper we describe an infrastructure and prototype system for sharing of visiting experiences across multiple media. The prototype supports synchronous co-visiting by physical and digital visitors, with digital access via either the World Wide Web or 3-dimensional graphics

G34.24+0.13MM: A Deeply Embedded Proto–B Star

By means of millimeter and submillimeter imaging, we have identified a massive protostellar object that coincides with a methanol maser and is not detectable in the continuum at centimeter wavelengths. Located 84" (1.5 pc) southeast of the ultracompact H II (UCHII) region G34.26+0.15, the new object G34.24+0.13MM was discovered in a wide-field 350 μm continuum image obtained with the Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Camera (SHARC) at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). Interferometric imaging at 225.7 and 110.7 GHz continuum has determined more precisely the position and angular diameter (2".0, or 7600 AU) of the object. No source was detected at that position in 1.2-3.7 μm imaging or 10 and 20 μm photometry. Our observations are consistent with a cool dust core with temperature ~50 K, total gas mass 100 M_☉, and total luminosity in the range of 1600-6300 L_☉. Considering the high luminosity and lack of compact radio continuum emission, we conclude that this core probably contains a deeply embedded proto-B star