event
Tuesday 29 Oct 2019: [Journal Club] Title: Spatial Statistics in Star Forming Regions
Brendan Retter - University of Exeter
Physics Building, 4th floor, Interaction area 11:15-11:35
The distributions of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) within a molecular cloud contains information about the evolution of star formation for that region. It is possible to test the suitability of different models of distributing YSOs against the observed patterns of YSOs. These models, known as spatial point processes within spatial statistics, are stochastic mechanisms for positioning points within a widow informed by knowledge of the system. Using two-dimensional probability distributions that incorporate the column densities of a star forming region it is possible to test whether the star formation activity is consistent with the observed dense gas. Further, it is possible to determine the spatial scales on which the model is rejected and if this is due to significant clustering or inhibition. The results of applying these statistical tests to the YSOs within star forming regions of local molecular clouds will be discussed.
