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C.H. De Vries, G. Narayanan, R.L. Snell (UMass/FCRAO), H.A.T. Vanhala (Dept. of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington)
We describe results from our ongoing investigation of triggered star formation. We take a two pronged approach to this investigation: one, we perform radiative transfer calculations on hydrodynamic models of triggered star formation to generate synthetic molecular line profiles and maps; and two, we are undertaking a multitransitional survey of candidate triggered star formation regions using millimeter and submillimeter molecular tracers. Our observations focus on bright-rimmed clouds bordering HII regions which have a morphology consistent with impact from a single shock front, a well defined impact geometry, and embedded IRAS sources. We also perform similar observations of quiescent Bok globules with embedded IRAS sources. This allows us to differentiate observational signatures of triggered and spontaneous star formation.
This work is supported by National Science Foundation grant AST 9725951.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: devries@astro.umass.edu