Speaker
Prof.
Thomas Preibisch
(USM/LMU)
Description
The Carina Nebula constitutes the closest galactic analog of a giant extragalactic HII region. The combination of its large population of very massive stars and its moderate distance of 2.3 kpc makes it an ideal target for detailed studies of small-scale phenomena of the stellar feedback on the surrounding clouds in a starburst-like environment. In the last few years, we have performed several multi-wavelength surveys of the Carina Nebula that revealed the distributions and properties of the stars, the hot gas, and the cold gas in the cloud complex in unprecedented detail and sensitivity. The analysis of our Herschel far-infrared and APEX sub-millimeter surveys in combination with Spitzer mid-infrared and Chandra X-ray data reveals how the 1 million solar masses of gas and dust are distributed in widely different density and temperature regimes. The observed phases range from very cold and dense molecular cloud clumps, over parsec-sized cloud pillars that are shaped by very strong irradiation, and via several 100 000 solar masses of warmer, mostly atomic gas, up to the very hot X-ray emitting plasma in the extended super-bubble. Our data show how the violent feedback from the massive stars drives the evolution of the clouds in this giant complex over timescales of a few mega-years. In some locations, the initial dense molecular clouds are already completely dispersed, whereas in other locations the stellar feedback created new dense clouds by sweeping up and compressing lower-density gas, and triggers the formation of new generations of stars in compressed cloud pillars.
Author
Prof.
Thomas Preibisch
(USM/LMU)