Maria Cunningham (University of New South Wales (UNSW))

Maria Cunningham Colloquium: Interpreting the results of large, multi-molecular-line datasets of the ISM

Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

In the last decade, the development of wide-bandwidth receivers and fast wide-field mapping has led to the collection of far more data than can possibly be processed and analysed manually. In this presentation I describe how automated data processing techniques, such as principal component analysis, filament finding algorithms and probability density function analyses can be used to interpret these large multi-molecular-line datasets. I will also discuss how these techniques have been used to analyse the CSIRO CASS Mopra telescope millimetre-wave large surveys of the G333 and Vela C molecular clouds. I will show how the Mopra surveys have allowed us to determine which molecules respectively trace the turbulent and gravitationally bound components of the interstellar medium, and show how comparing subsets of molecules, for example CS, N2H+, HCO+ and C2H, can be used to highlight star forming regions at different stages of development in these large datasets.