In our galaxy exists billions of massive stars. Despite their short and turbulent existence, protostars play a significant role in astrophysics. For example, they forge metals and heavier chemical elements, which will be released into space at the end of their life, when they explode as supernovae and become neutron stars or black holes.
For astrophysicists, how massive stars form remains a mystery. But DIAS astrophysicist Dr. Alessio Caratti o Garatti has been working on proving a theory which could explain it all.
Dr Caratti o Garatti proposes that high-mass protostars gather their mass via brief bursts of `episodic accretion’. This theory predicts short, intense accretion bursts in which the forming star (also called protostar) gains mass from its surrounding accretion disk, followed by long periods of inactivity lasting hundreds, to thousands of years.
In January 2019 astronomers at Ibaraki university, Japan, noticed that one such high-mass protostar called G358-MM1, showed signs of new activity, indicative of a potential accretion burst.
In response, a collaboration of astronomers including Dr. Caratti o Garatti from DIAS called the Maser Monitoring Organisation (M2O) gathered several radio telescopes from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to form a telescope array capable of detecting radio emission stimulated by the heat of the accreting protostar.
The team, led by Dr. Ross Burns of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, compared multiple images spaced a few weeks apart to reveal a “heat-wave” of thermal energy radiating outward from the location of the protostar.
The cause of the heat-wave was later confirmed to originate in an accretion event by the plane-borne SOFIA telescope. “Our observations are the first to witness the immediate aftermath of an accretion burst in a high-mass protostar in such detail, which provide further evidence in support of the `episodic accretion’ theory of high-mass star formation”, says Dr. Caratti o Garatti.
The result, which was published in Nature Astronomy, will be followed by a series of deeper investigations into the nature of high-mass protostars, their formation mechanisms and their environments.
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Today is the 25th anniversary of the passing of Professor J.L Synge. Part 6 and the final #SyngeWeek installment will go live this evening on our website at 6pm
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"One of the attractions [of coming to DIAS] for me in 1948 was the prospect of being a colleague of Schrödinger. "
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#SyngeWeek part 3 will be posted on our website this evening at 6pm.
Part 2: University is available until then:
dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn…
#SyngeWeek Part Two: University, is now live on our website.
"...could force the rifle down the leg of his trousers, and we set out through the Front Gate of College; "
➡️dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn…
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#SyngeWeek part 2 is coming this evening. This will cover his University years.
J.L. Synge, an Irish mathematician & physicist, whose seven decade career included significant periods in Ireland (& DIAS) Canada, and the USA.
Part 1 ➡️ dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn…#DIASdiscovers
"My mother was Ellen Frances Price (1861-1935),
daughter of James Price, a distinguished Irish engineer.
I believe that, in so far as it was genetic, my interest
in mathematics came from this side of the family."- J.L Synge
More: dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn…#SyngeWeek#DIASdiscovers
DIAS astrophysicist confirms theory on how massive stars are formed
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Last Updated: 21st January 2020 by Caoimhe Mulhall
In our galaxy exists billions of massive stars. Despite their short and turbulent existence, protostars play a significant role in astrophysics. For example, they forge metals and heavier chemical elements, which will be released into space at the end of their life, when they explode as supernovae and become neutron stars or black holes.
Dr Caratti o Garatti proposes that high-mass protostars gather their mass via brief bursts of `episodic accretion’. This theory predicts short, intense accretion bursts in which the forming star (also called protostar) gains mass from its surrounding accretion disk, followed by long periods of inactivity lasting hundreds, to thousands of years.
In January 2019 astronomers at Ibaraki university, Japan, noticed that one such high-mass protostar called G358-MM1, showed signs of new activity, indicative of a potential accretion burst.
In response, a collaboration of astronomers including Dr. Caratti o Garatti from DIAS called the Maser Monitoring Organisation (M2O) gathered several radio telescopes from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to form a telescope array capable of detecting radio emission stimulated by the heat of the accreting protostar.
The team, led by Dr. Ross Burns of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, compared multiple images spaced a few weeks apart to reveal a “heat-wave” of thermal energy radiating outward from the location of the protostar.
The cause of the heat-wave was later confirmed to originate in an accretion event by the plane-borne SOFIA telescope. “Our observations are the first to witness the immediate aftermath of an accretion burst in a high-mass protostar in such detail, which provide further evidence in support of the `episodic accretion’ theory of high-mass star formation”, says Dr. Caratti o Garatti.
The result, which was published in Nature Astronomy, will be followed by a series of deeper investigations into the nature of high-mass protostars, their formation mechanisms and their environments.
Category: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics Section News & Events, DIAS, News, Uncategorised
The final #Syngeweek part is now live on our website. "Yet meet we shall, and part and meet again Where dead men meet, on lips of living men." dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn… Returning visitors don't forget to clear your cookies! #DIASdiscovers
Today is the 25th anniversary of the passing of Professor J.L Synge. Part 6 and the final #SyngeWeek installment will go live this evening on our website at 6pm #DIASdiscovers
What a great idea! 👩🚀👩🚀 twitter.com/SpaceStnExplor…
#SyngeWeek Part5 is now live on our website! "One of the attractions [of coming to DIAS] for me in 1948 was the prospect of being a colleague of Schrödinger. " Read more: dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn… Returning visitors remember to clear those cookies! #DIASdiscovers
Part 5 of #SyngeWeek covers his career with DIAS, the publication of "Relativity:The General Theory" which made DIAS the leading centre for research in General relativity for the following decade. Part 4 is availble until 6pm: dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn… #DIASdiscovers
On tonight! Don't miss your chance to see this fascinating documentary about Schroedinger's time in DIAS and the seminal discovery it lead to. Not forgetting he was DIAS' first Director of Theoretical Physics. @RTEOne #DIASdiscovers #schrodinger
Returning Visitors please remember to clear those cookies!
"...sometime early in 1944, I got a phone call from Oswald Veblen, asking me whether I would like to go to Europe attached to the American Army in a scientific capacity." #SyngeWeek Part 4: Columbus & Europe is now live on our website ➡️ dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn… #DIASdiscovers
Spring Newsletter just launched! See what has happened in 2020 so far: mailchi.mp/5ea85f227dce/d… Subscribe to our mailing list today to get future editions direct to your mailbox: dias.ie/mailinglistsub… #DIASdiscovers
"...he wanted to endow international medals in mathematics (a subject omitted from Nobel Prizes, on account of Nobel's jealousy of Mittag-Leffler..." #SyngeWeek Part 3: Toronto-Dublin-Toronto dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn… Returning visitors please remember to clear those cookies 🍪
"Long before 1916 I had become a Nationalist, but the idea that there might be an armed rebellion was nothing more than a whispered rumour..." #SyngeWeek part 3 will be posted on our website this evening at 6pm. Part 2: University is available until then: dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn…
Please note the reopening date of DIAS buildings is now 20 April. dias.ie/2020/03/13/ale… #coronavirus #StayHomeSaveLives
#SyngeWeek Part Two: University, is now live on our website. "...could force the rifle down the leg of his trousers, and we set out through the Front Gate of College; " ➡️dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn… Returning visitors please be sure to clear those cookies🍪 #DIASdiscovers
#SyngeWeek part 2 is coming this evening. This will cover his University years. J.L. Synge, an Irish mathematician & physicist, whose seven decade career included significant periods in Ireland (& DIAS) Canada, and the USA. Part 1 ➡️ dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn… #DIASdiscovers
"My mother was Ellen Frances Price (1861-1935), daughter of James Price, a distinguished Irish engineer. I believe that, in so far as it was genetic, my interest in mathematics came from this side of the family."- J.L Synge More: dias.ie/2020/03/23/syn… #SyngeWeek #DIASdiscovers