Research Projects

Early Stages of High-mass Star Formation

Magnetic Fields in High-mass Star Formation

Binary Formation, Accretion Disks, Infall Streamers

Origin of Stellar Masses, Core Mass Function

Initial Physical/ Chemical Conditions of High-mass Star Formation

ALMA-UNIC is the first ALMA Large Program targeting the early stages of high-mass star formation, as ASHES (PIs: Elena Redaelli, Stefano Bovino, Vivien Chen, Rachel Friesen, and Patricio Sanhueza). ALMA Large Programs are meant to address key scientific questions in the field. With ALMA-UNIC, we aim to more deeply characterize the earliest stages of high-mass star formation. The initial prestellar conditions have historically been the hardest to study because the dust and molecular line emission is weak and observations are time consuming. With ALMA-UNIC, we will study the initial conditions of prestellar cores in terms of mass distribution, kinematic properties, and ionisation state, a crucial quantity for the dynamics and chemistry of star-forming gas. The main target line is ortho-H₂D⁺, a unique tracer of cold gas that, in addition, allows us to infer the cosmic-ray ionisation rate. Combining observations with cutting-edge MHD numerical simulations of molecular clouds, we deepen the knoledge about the initial conditions of high-mass star formation.

The project is currently under data reduction. For recent updates, please visit the project website.