Research
As a student of astronomy and physics I am invested in a variety of topics, however as a researcher I primarily use infrared wavelengths of light to study massive star formation, in particular in the extreme environment of the Galactic Center of our Milky Way. For my research, I use a variety of ground- and space-based telescopes, such as SOFIA (RIP), Herschel, Spitzer, LBT, HST, ALMA, and JWST. Some key questions that interest me are: how do massive stars form, and how does this process vary by environment? How do massive protostars affect low-mass protostars during their formation, and vice versa? How can we observationally distinguish between massive star formation theories? Does star formation occur differently in the Galactic Center compared to other regions? If so, why?
Primary Research Projects
Credit: Crowe et al. (in prep.)
A Global Sample of Galactic Center Massive Protostars
Can we identify individual massive protostars in the Galactic Center (GC)? Can we characterize them? In this project, I have been developing a global survey of massive protostars in the GC to sample their emission across a spectrum of near-, mid- and far-infrared wavelengths. This is used to construct their spectral energy distributions (SEDs; e.g. left) and fit them to theoretical models of massive star formation to place constraints on their physical characteristics. This rich data set can be used to derive estimates of parameters like the initial mass function (IMF), star formation rate (SFR), and star formation efficiency (SFE), which are crucial to our understanding of GC star formation.
Began: February 2022. Status: Ongoing (paper in preparation)
Massive Star Formation and Outflows in AFGL 5180
When stars form via accretion, they channel enormous amounts of material along magnetic field lines, producing incredibly bright and large-scale protostellar outflows that can be studied with high levels of detail. In this project, I use near-infrared and sub-millimeter data to study the massive star-forming region AFGL 5180 (right), a highly complex region which is host to a plethora of outflows powered by both low- and high-mass protostars. With pioneering methods the rich observational data in this region is compared directly to numerical simulations of star cluster formation, providing a new means of placing constraints on massive star formation theory.
Began: June 2023. Status: Imaging paper published in A&A; beginning spectroscopy analysis
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. C. Tan, R. Fedriani, J. Schmidt
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and S. Crowe (University of Virginia).
Peering into the Heart of a Massive Protocluster with the JWST
How does the extreme environment of the Galactic Center (GC) affect the process of massive star formation? I am the PI of a Cycle 2 JWST Program which uses NIRCam and NIRISS imaging to provide an unprecedented view into the massive star-forming molecular cloud Sagittarius C in the GC (left), as a follow-up of my previous SED-fitting work (see above). With this rich data, taken in September 2023 (read the press release here!), our team is carrying out a number of analyses, including: characterizaton of the main massive protostar, its outflow, and its surroundings to compare with massive star formation theories; quantitative study of diffuse hydrogen emission; extinction mapping of dark clouds; study of the general field stellar population and identification of YSO candidates.
Began: September 2023. Status: Ongoing
Other Research Participation
I am also interested and participate in other astronomy-related research, primarily through student groups at the University of Virginia.
UVa Pulsar Club
Credit: Chris Butler / Science Photo Library
Since Fall 2021 I have been an active member in the UVa Pulsar Club, which is a club dedicated to providing training in scientific computing and research methods, in particular with respect to pulsar research, to underclassmen interested in astronomy. Past activities have included beta-testing NASA's Radio JOVE telescope kit and developing an observing program at the Long Wavelength Array (Socorro, NM) to update timing models for outdated pulsars.
UVa Occultation Group
Pictured: Training night in Boulder, Colorado for the PO20230204 campaign.
Since early 2023 I have been an active participant in the UVa Occultation Group, which regularly observes occultations: events in which a target asteroid passes in front of a star. I have participated in several campaigns with the group, including with ~10 other members in the PO20230204 campaign with NASA and the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) to observe the occultation of the asteroid Polymele and its satellite Shaun, a target of NASA's Lucy mission, in Colorado and Kansas.