Parichay Mazumdar, Chair: Tim Sprenger
Title: LAsMA observations of the G305 star forming complex
Abstract: High-mass stars (M > 8 M_solar) are predominantly observed in young
(≤20 Myr), massive clusters (M ≥ 10^3 M_solar) located within giant molecular
clouds (GMCs). Despite their rarity and short lifetimes, high-mass stars are
responsible for injecting a significant amount of energy into the
interstellar medium (ISM) by means of stellar winds, ionizing radiation and
supernovae. The impact of such feedback mechanisms from high-mass stars on
the ISM and star formation is still a topic of debate but is thought to play
an important role in driving the evolution of GMCs. G305 is one of the most
massive and luminous active star forming Giant Molecular Cloud complex in the
Milky Way. It consists of a number of molecular cloud surrounding a cavity
centered on two visible star clusters Dank 1 and Dank 2 and a Wolf-Rayet star
WR48a which seem to be driving the expansion of this cavity. Many signposts
of star formation are coincident with G305, e.g. IR hotspots; UC HII regions;
water, OH, and methanol masers. This makes G305 an excellent laboratory to
investigate the nature of star-formation and its impact on the environment
and in turn the formation of future generation of stars. In this talk, I will
be presenting some results from 13CO(2-1) and 12CO(2-1) observations of the
G305 complex done with the APEX telescope.