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Session 41 - T Tauri Stars & Protostellar Regions.
Display session, Wednesday, June 11
South Main Hall,
Star forming regions in the LMC show some similarities to those in the Galaxy. But there are also substantial differences due to the lower metallicity and dust content and higher UV radiation field. While the distribution of cold molecular gas has been traced with ^12CO, this molecule may survive only in dense clumps and so not be indicative of the extent or mass of quiescent H_2. The availability of sensitive IR array detectors enables an alternative approach, detection of H_2 excited by fluorescence or shocks. We have obtained H_2 images in the 2.12 \mum line for several LMC star forming regions. In some, the distribution relative to ionized gas is similar to that in Galactic regions. Intriguing morphology is seen in the 30 Dor field, including filamentary structures unrelated to the ionized gas morphology and compact knots not associated with stars, ionized gas, or ^12CO. IR spectroscopy indicates these knots are fluorescent. The filamentary H_2 may be tracing the convoluted geometry of clumpy clouds, or marking the intersection of mass-loss winds with cloud surfaces.
