Lu, Jessica R. and Clarkson, Will and McCrady, Nate and Ghez, Andrea M. and Morris, Mark R. and Stolte, Andrea and Yelda, Sylvana and Do, Tuan (2011) Clarifying our View of Star Formation in Massive Young Clusters with Adaptive Optics. In: UP2010: Have Observations Revealed a Variable Upper End of the Initial Mass Function? ASP Conference Series (440). Astronomical Society of the Pacific , San Francisco, CA, pp. 63-71. ISBN 978-1-58381-760-5 http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20110623-094921842
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Abstract
Observations of massive (> 10^4 M_⊙), young (<10 Myr) star clusters within our Galaxy allow us to fully sample the upper end of the initial mass function within a single star formation event. Such clusters also reside in a range of environments including the Galactic disk, the Galactic center region, and immediately surrounding the supermassive black hole in our Galactic nucleus. However, studies of these clusters are limited by crowding in the dense cores, strong and variable visible extinction, and confusion between cluster members and contaminating field stars. Using Keck laser-guided adaptive optics observations, we obtain high-resolution images and high-precision proper motions to both identify individual cluster members and investigate the kinematic properties of such clusters. As we build up complete proper motion data sets for several massive young clusters, our multi-color near-infrared photometry will yield precise mass functions that can be compared to search for environmental dependencies.
| Item Type: | Book Section | ||||
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| Additional Information: | © 2011 Astronomical Society of the Pacific. J. R. Lu’s support for this work was provided by the California Institute of Technology’s Millikan Postdoctoral Fellowship. The W. M. Keck Observatory is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Intistute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Mauna Kea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. | ||||
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| Record Number: | CaltechAUTHORS:20110623-094921842 | ||||
| Persistent URL: | http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20110623-094921842 | ||||
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| Usage Policy: | No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided. | ||||
| ID Code: | 24179 | ||||
| Collection: | CaltechAUTHORS | ||||
| Deposited By: | Tony Diaz | ||||
| Deposited On: | 23 Jun 2011 17:07 | ||||
| Last Modified: | 24 Apr 2012 22:55 |
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