EPoS Contribution
EPoS Contribution
Physical Processes in Massive Structures: Observational Constraints

Alana Rivera-Ingraham
ESA, Madrid, ES
The Herschel Space Observatory has provided an extensive archive with the quality and coverage needed for constraining the processes associated with the elusive precursors of high-mass stars and clusters. The statistically robust sample of massive cores and clumps extracted from these datasets is suitable for quantifying such processes by studying the final product of their effects: the conditions exclusively associated with high-mass star formation. Results from our ongoing large-scale analysis of the Herschel datasets, covering a range of structures down to 0.1 pc (core) scales, indicate that the formation of OB stars is intimately linked with a critical combination of characteristics, physical as well as environmental. Variations in the processes responsible for these conditions appear to have a strong impact on the type of massive stellar system formed. We will discuss the evidence supporting these conclusions, and results will be put in context with theoretical models of high-mass star formation.
Collaborators:
A. Marston, ESA, ES
P. Martin, CITA, CA
D. Polychroni, UOA, GR
HOBYS Collaboration
Key publication

Suggested Session: Massive Star Formation