Low mass star formation is a complex process involving the interplay of the fragmentation of filamentary structures, the collapse of the fragments, the accretion of mass through disks, and the…

This is a $359,342.67 grant awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the University of Toledo for a research project on low-mass star formation. The grant will fund a study to create a database of low-mass protostars within 500 parsecs of the Sun, using data from telescopes like Spitzer, Herschel, WISE, and NEOWISE. The goal is to identify protostars, construct their spectral energy distributions, and study their mid- to far-infrared variability. This research will help understand the processes that regulate mass accretion onto protostars and constrain protostar models. The grant has no set-aside designation and will run through August 9, 2023.

Low mass star formation is a complex process involving the interplay of the fragmentation of filamentary structures, the collapse of the fragments, the accretion of mass through disks, and the resulting feedback through collimated outflows. IT occurs in diverse environments with order of magnitude differences in the rate and efficiency of star formation, yet results in a relatively invariant IMF. Studies of the rich population of protostars in the nearest star forming clouds are now possible due to a remarkable decade of wide field, spaced based IR astronomy. We propose to create a database of low mass protostars within 500 PC of the sun using spitzer, herschel, wise, and neowise, to identify protostars, construct their spectral energy distributions (seds) from 3.4 to 500 microns, and study their mid to far-IR variability. This census will leverage the methodologies, code and experience gained in the herschel orion protostar survey of 321 orion protostars. We expect to almost triple the number of protostars with well determined seds in the nearest 500 PC, measure the basic observables of these protostars (bolometric luminosity, SED shape, and variability), and estimate their fundamental physical parameters (total luminosity, inner envelope mass, mass infall rate) by performing fits to a grid of 30400 seds generated from rotating collapse models. With these data, we will study the processes that regulate mass accretion onto protostars, thereby putting essential constraints on protostar models. Using luminosities and bolometric temperatures, we will study the evolution of accretion onto protostars as their envelopes disperse, thereby testing models of mass infall and the origin of the IMF. With the multi-epoch data, we will assess the typical level of variability as well as constrain the rate and magnitudes of luminous outbursts driven by episodic accretion. Finally, we will look for systematic changes in the protostellar luminosity between molecular clouds, which would be evidence that accretion is strongly affected by their formation environment. The wide spatial and broad wavelength coverage of the spitzer, wise and herschel missions will not be surpassed in the foreseeable future, and the seds generated by this proposal will be the definitive sample of mid- to far-IR protostellar seds for years to come. In addition to archival driven science, they will be an essential resource for planning and interpreting observations with alma, sofia, jwst and wfirst.