Whilst the basic idea of star formation is well understood (gas collapses to form stars), the environment in which this happens, including how the gas is collected why it collapses is not. It is clear that spiral arms are the major factories which change the gas into stars, but to understand them in detail one needs to follow the gas through the arms, and then follow the stars as they flow away from the arms. We have developed techniques for measuring the ages and distances to groups of stars which now need to be applied to the new-born stars emerging from the spiral arms, so we can construct a "movie" of the progress of star formation, and compare it to spiral arm models. The work will involve data from large surveys, and from new observations.
One of the strengths of this project is that it several members of the group are working in areas which support the project's aims. So the student would be expected to interact with Chris Brunt who works on radio surveys of the gas from which the stars form, Clare Dobbs who performs simulations of spiral arms, and Matthew Bate who simulates the collapse of molecular clouds to form stars.