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This paper describes a James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) legacy survey that has been awarded roughly 500 hr of observing time to be carried out from 2007 to 2009. In this survey, we will map with SCUBA‐2 (Submillimetre Common‐User Bolometer Array 2) almost all of the well‐known low‐mass and intermediate‐mass star‐forming regions within 0.5 kpc that are accessible from the JCMT. Most of these locations are associated with the Gould Belt. From these observations, we will produce a flux‐limited snapshot of star formation near the Sun, providing a legacy of images, as well as point‐source and extended‐source catalogs, over almost 700 deg2of sky. The resulting images will yield the first catalog of prestellar and protostellar sources selected by submillimeter continuum emission, and should increase the number of known sources by more than an order of magnitude. We will also obtain with the array receiver HARP (Heterodyne Array Receiver Program) CO maps, in three CO isotopologues, of a large typical sample of prestellar and protostellar sources. We will then map the brightest hundred sources with the SCUBA‐2 polarimeter (POL‐2), producing the first statistically significant set of polarization maps in the submillimeter. The images and source catalogs will be a powerful reference set for astronomers, providing a detailed legacy archive for future telescopes, includingALMA,Herschel, andJWST.

The formation of stars is one of the most fundamental problems in astrophysics, as it underlies many other questions, on scales from the formation of galaxies to the formation of the solar system. The physical processes involve the turbulent behavior of a partially ionized medium containing a non-uniform magnetic field. Current debate centers around the time taken for turbulence to decay and the relative importance of the roles played by magnetic fields and turbulence. Technological advances such as millimeter-wave cameras have made possible observations of the temperature and density profiles, and statistical calculations of the lifetimes, of objects collapsing under their own self-gravity and those on the verge of collapse. Increased computing power allows more complex models to be made that include magnetic and turbulent effects. No current model can reproduce all of the observations.

Hi-GAL, the Herschel infrared Galactic Plane Survey, is an Open Time Key Project of theHerschel Space Observatory. It will make an unbiased photometric survey of the inner Galactic plane by mapping a2° 2 ° wide strip in the longitude range∣l∣ < 60° ∣ l ∣ < 60 ° in five wavebands between 70 μm and 500 μm. The aim of Hi-GAL is to detect the earliest phases of the formation of molecular clouds and high-mass stars and to use the optimum combination ofHerschelwavelength coverage, sensitivity, mapping strategy, and speed to deliver a homogeneous census of star-forming regions and cold structures in the interstellar medium. The resulting representative samples will yield the variation of source temperature, luminosity, mass and age in a wide range of Galactic environments at all scales from massive YSOs in protoclusters to entire spiral arms, providing an evolutionary sequence for the formation of intermediate and high-mass stars. This information is essential to the formulation of a predictive global model of the role of environment and feedback in regulating the star-formation process. Such a model is vital to understanding star formation on galactic scales and in the early universe. Hi-GAL will also provide a science legacy for decades to come with incalculable potential for systematic and serendipitous science in a wide range of astronomical fields, enabling the optimum use of future major facilities such asJWSTand ALMA.

The methanol multi-beam (MMB) survey has produced the largest and most complete catalogue of Galactic 6.7-GHz methanol masers to date. 6.7-GHz methanol masers are exclusively associated with high-mass star formation, and as such provide invaluable insight into the Galactic distribution and properties of high-mass star formation regions. I present the statistical properties of the MMB catalogue and, through the calculation of kinematic distances, investigate the resolution of distance ambiguities and explore the Galactic distribution.

The results of the first complete survey for 6668-MHz CH3OH and 6035-MHz excited-state OH masers in the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds are presented. A new 6668-MHz CH3OH maser in the Large Magellanic Cloud has been detected towards the star-forming region N 160a, together with a new 6035-MHz excited-state OH maser detected towards N 157a. We also re-observed the previously known 6668-MHz CH3OH masers and the single known 6035-MHz OH maser. Neither maser transition was detected above ~0.13 Jy in the Small Magellanic Cloud. All observations were initially made using the CH3OH Multibeam (MMB) survey receiver on the 64-m Parkes radio telescope as part of the overall MMB project. Accurate positions were measured with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). In a comparison of the star formation maser populations in the Magellanic Clouds and our Galaxy, the LMC maser populations are demonstrated to be smaller than their Milky Way counterparts. CH3OH masers are under-abundant by a factor of ~50, whilst OH and H2O masers are a factor of ~10 less abundant than our Galaxy.

Issue Title: Magnetic Fields and Star Foramtion: Theory Versus Observations (Guest Editor: A.I. Gómez de Castro, M. Heyer, E. Vázquez-Semadeni, R. Rrebolo, M. Tagger and R.E. Pudritz) Prestellar cores represent the stage of star formation immediately prior to protostellar collapse. We present polarisation maps of three prestellar cores, L183, L1544 and L43. In each case the magnetic field lines are uniform but not parallel to the semi-minor axis of the core. This suggests that magnetic and thermal pressure support alone are inconsistent with the data. We also calculate the magnetic field strength using the Chandrasekhar-Fermi technique and find that all three cores are magnetically supercritical by a factor of 2. This is consistent with the observation that the magnetic field is not dominating the evolution of these cores.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Guiding the reader through all the stages that lead to the formation of a star such as our Sun, this advanced textbook provides students with a complete overview of star formation. It examines the underlying physical processes that govern the evolution from a molecular cloud core to a main-sequence star, and focuses on the formation of solar-mass stars. Each chapter combines theory and observation, helping readers to connect with and understand the theory behind star formation. Beginning with an explanation of the interstellar medium and molecular clouds as sites of star formation, subsequent chapters address the building of typical stars and the formation of high-mass stars, concluding with a discussion of the by-products and consequences of star formation. This is a unique, self-contained text with sufficient background information for self-study, and is ideal for students and professional researchers alike.

A new 7-beam methanol multibeam receiver is being used to survey the Galaxy for newly forming massive stars, that are pinpointed by strong methanol maser emission at 6.668 GHz. The receiver, jointly constructed by Jodrell Bank Observatory (JBO) and the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), was successfully commissioned at Parkes in January 2006. The Parkes-Jodrell survey of the Milky Way for methanol masers is two orders of magnitude faster than previous systematic surveys using 30-m class dishes, and is the first systematic survey of the entire Galactic plane. The first 53 days of observations with the Parkes telescope have yielded 518 methanol sources, of which 218 are new discoveries. We present the survey methodology as well as preliminary results and analysis.

A new 7-beam methanol multibeam receiver was successfully commissioned at Parkes Observatory in January 2006, and has begun surveying the Milky Way for newly forming massive stars, that are pinpointed by strong methanol maser emission at 6.7 GHz. The receiver was jointly constructed by Jodrell Bank Observatory and the Australia Telescope National Facility for use on the Parkes and Lovell Telescopes. The whole galactic plane is being surveyed within latitudes ±2°, with a velocity resolution of 0.1 km s−1 and a 5-σ sensitivity of ~0.7 Jy. Altogether 200 days of observing will be required.

Hi-GAL is a large-scale survey of the Galactic plane, performed with Herschel in five infrared continuum bands between 70 and 500 \\(\\mu\\)m. We present a band-merged catalogue of spatially matched sources and their properties derived from fits to the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and heliocentric distances, based on the photometric catalogs presented in Molinari et al. (2016a), covering the portion of Galactic plane \\(-71.0^{\\circ}< \\ell < 67.0^{\\circ}\\). The band-merged catalogue contains 100922 sources with a regular SED, 24584 of which show a 70 \\(\\mu\\)m counterpart and are thus considered proto-stellar, while the remainder are considered starless. Thanks to this huge number of sources, we are able to carry out a preliminary analysis of early stages of star formation, identifying the conditions that characterise different evolutionary phases on a statistically significant basis. We calculate surface densities to investigate the gravitational stability of clumps and their potential to form massive stars. We also explore evolutionary status metrics such as the dust temperature, luminosity and bolometric temperature, finding that these are higher in proto-stellar sources compared to pre-stellar ones. The surface density of sources follows an increasing trend as they evolve from pre-stellar to proto-stellar, but then it is found to decrease again in the majority of the most evolved clumps. Finally, we study the physical parameters of sources with respect to Galactic longitude and the association with spiral arms, finding only minor or no differences between the average evolutionary status of sources in the fourth and first Galactic quadrants, or between \"on-arm\" and \"inter-arm\" positions.