The Structure of Accretion Flows in the Formation of Very Massive Stars Roberto Galvan-Madrid ESO, Garching bei Muenchen, Germany
Multi-configuration Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations toward a small sample of very luminous (L > 10^5 L_sun) massive star formation regions are presented. The dense and warm molecular gas surrounding Hypercompact HII regions is resolved down to scales < 0.05 pc. Subarcsecond angular resolution maps of hydrogen recombination lines are also able to resolve the dynamics of the inner ionized gas. Massive, partially-ionized accretion flows appear to be the birthplace of the most massive (M > 15 M_sun) stars in the Galaxy.
Collaborators: Qizhou Zhang, CfA, USA Eric Keto, CfA, USA Luis F. Rodriguez, CRyA-UNAM, Mexico Paul T. P. Ho, ASIAA, Taiwan	Key publication