Beyond the Beam: Revealing Star Formation in Galaxies through Simulations and Observations

Stars form in dense clouds of molecular gas in galaxies, but how these clouds and the stars within them are formed is still not fully understood. Galactic forces are likely to play a role at some scale but the precise role of galactic environment still has to be determined. Observational surveys using revolutionary facilities such as ALMA, SOFIA, the upcoming SKA and its precursors are now able to observe the formation of the molecular clouds that are the birthplaces of stars all the way from atomic HI to dense star forming cores in other galactic systems for the first time. However, even the best observations are limited by resolution, sensitivity, projection effects and issues of optical depth. In this project we will seek to "translate" between simulations and observations to learn the key physical parameters that determine how molecular clouds and stars form in different galactic environments. We will do this by creating synthetic observations of gas-rich regions in cutting-edge high-resolution galaxy simulations using post-process radiative transfer. Uniquely these simulations resolve individual molecular clouds sub-structure while still capturing galactic forces on kpc scales. Our synthetic observations will focus on creating 1) HI maps in the 21 cm line for comparison to the THOR survey of the Milky Way, observations from MEERKAT, and predictions for the SKA, 2) CII emission maps for comparison to a SOFIA survey our team is a member of and 3) CO molecular line emission for comparison to ALMA observations. These will then be compared to the observational data sets to determine what parameters best reproduce the observations. This project will allow the prospective student to gain experience with both theoretical and observational data.