TMT Construction Proposal - Thirty Meter Telescope

nearby galaxies. In the nearest dwarf galaxies, such as the Magellanic clouds, it will be possible to probe the
initial mass function to much lower masses, all the way down to the brown dwarf regime.
2.8.2 Physical conditions in star-forming regions
In star-forming regions we see infalling gas, which produces new stars. We also see outflows of material
expelled by newly-forming stars. The competition between infall and outfall provides a feedback mechanism
that regulates the star formation rate and the masses of the stars. The details of these processes are not yet
understood. However, they are accessible to observation with next-generation telescopes. Infrared radiation
allows us to penetrate these dust-enshrouded regions, and the large aperture of TMT will provide
unprecedented spatial resolution with adaptive optics. The multiplexing capability of IRMOS will allow many
outflows to be resolved, and their interaction with the interstellar medium to be studied. These studies will be
complementary to studies using ALMA, which will provide information about the composition and densities of
the molecular clouds.
Fig 2-15: Images of young stellar objects (left). Dusty disks can be seen obscuring the
star, and bipolar outflows occur along the symmetry axis. The right panel shows the
number of sources as a function of infrared flux. The two vertical lines represent the
detection limits of 10-m telescopes (red) and TMT (blue). TMT will be able to detect and
study virtually all YSOs in nearby star forming regions (TMT MIRES team).
Fig 2-16: Artist’s impression of a protoplanetary disk, showing a planet orbiting within the
ring that it has cleared (left). Profile of an emission line from a hypothetical spectroscopic
observation (right). The double peak arises from the Doppler shift due to the rotation of
the disk particles). By analyzing the spectrum, it is possible to detect the gap and thus
infer the presence of the planet (G. Bryden & J. Najita, NOAO).
TMT Construction Proposal 14