Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Impact Of Protostellar Feedback On Astrochemistry, Brandt Gaches

Doctoral Dissertations

Star formation is the lynch pin that lies in between the scales of galaxy and planet formation. Observational studies of molecular clouds, the sites of star formation, primarly use molecular line emission, providing dynamical and chemical information. Two of the key parameters of astrochemical models are far-ultraviolet (FUV) flux and the cosmic ray ionization rate. We use analytic accretion histories to predict the bolometric and FUV luminosities of protostar clusters and compare different histories with observed bolometric luminosities. We find that the Tapered Turbulent Core model best represents the observed luminosities and their dispersion. We extend the models to calculate …