Establishing a timeline for the high-mass star formation process.
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Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universidad de Concepción.
Abstract
In this Thesis we aim to answer a long-standing astrophysical problem, quantifying
the timescales of the evolutionary phases characterising the high-mass star formation pro cess. Understanding the details of the formation of massive stars (i.e. M>8-10 M ) is
not trivial, since these objects are rare and at a relatively large distance. They also form
and evolve very quickly and almost their entire formation takes place deeply embedded in
their parental clumps. During the evolution, the chemical composition of massive clump
can be heavily affected by the changes in density and temperature induced by the pres ence of massive young stellar objects. Chemical tracers that show a relation between their
observed abundances and the different phases of the star formation process are commonly
called chemical clocks. In this Thesis, through the comparison of observations of a large
sample of massive clumps in different evolutionary stages, and accurate time-dependent
chemical models, we estimate the timescales of the different phases over the entire star
formation process. In addition, we provide relevant information on the reliability of cru cial chemical clocks, both for the early and the late stages, confirming that the chemistry
is a powerful tool to establish a timeline for the high-mass star formation process.
Description
Tesis para optar al grado de Doctor en Ciencias Físicas.
Keywords
Estrellas de Baja Masa, Estrellas, Estrellas de Baja Masa, Formación, Estrellas, Cosmoquímica, Formación, Cosmoquímica, Materia Interestelar, Materia Interestelar