Michael R. Meyer, M. Andersen, D. Apai, J. Greissl, P. Hinz, M. Kenworthy, C.

Kulesa, D. McCarthy, W. Schlingman, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona

with Bruce Wilking, UM-St. Louis, and Lori Allen, CfA

Searching for Our Origins: Star and Planet Formation with the MMT

To understand chemical evolution. Interpret the integrated light of other

galaxies. Constrain contribution to baryonic

dark matterThe shape of the initial mass function provides

crucial information concerning the origins of

stellar masses.

● Are there characteristic masses?● Is the IMF truly universal?

Why Study the IMF?

Red Channel Spectrum of Young Brown Dwarf in rho Oph with OLD MMT

Wilking, Greene, and Meyer, 1999, AJ, 117, 469.

FLAMINGOS Imaging of Rho Oph with the new MMT

Wilking, Meyer, and Allen (2006).

Near-IR Color-Magnitude Diagram and PMS H-R Diagram

FLAMINGOS on the MMT (Wilking, Meyer, and Allen)

FLAMINGOS on the MMT (Wilking, Meyer, and Allen)

Color_1

Col

or_2

Star+Dust Star+

Dust+Disk

Star

Star+Disk

FSPEC on the NEW MMT Effects of Surface Gravity on Near-IR Spectra

Gorlova, Meyer, Rieke, & Liebert, 2003, ApJ, 93, 1047.

Is the IMF different insuper-star clusters?

ARIESArizona Infrared Imager and Echelle Spectrograph

Aries “purple”: 1-2.5 um imager, in operation since 2003

and...

Aries “green”: long slit and echelle spectrometer, designed for 1-5 um, arriving winter 2006-7

Aries Contacts:Don McCarthy (PI)

Craig Kulesa

ARIES Imaging

1-2.5 um (1k x 1k HgCdTe)

- f/15 imager: 0.038”/pix (40” FOV)- f/30 imager: 0.019”/pix (20” FOV)- slit viewer for Aries “green”

new Si grism: slitless spectroscopy w/ 2 pixel R=5000

ARIES Spectroscopy

2006: 1-2.5 um (1k x 1k HgCdTe)2007: 1-5 um (2k x 2k HgCdTe)

Long slit mode: 90” long0.2-0.4” wideR ~ 2000-5000

Echelle mode: 1” long0.1” to 0.4” wideR ~ 15,000 to 60,000cross-dispersed

Imaging mode: 0.1”/pix

Aries “purple” and Aries “green” operate simultaneously!

Extreme Star Formation: W51- High Luminosity UCHII Region. - 130 stars > 10 Msun.- 7 kpc.- Av = 5-10 mag.- < 3 Myr old.(Okumura et al. 2000)

- MMT-AO.- ARIES Camera.- 0.14” @ K-band.- 40” FOV. - 10 sigma K < 21m.- Reach HBL Av < 30 m in 1 hr.

Meyer et al. (2004); Andersen et al. (2005).

<= Near-IR CMDFor Av-limited

sample calculateratio of high-to-low

mass stars in W51

Expectation =>Probably of observingratio for various IMFs

MMT-AO Engineering PSF Simulated Trapezium Observations R(Sky Noise) = 1 Rc = 0.2 pc from Close et al. 2003. using Hillenbrand & Carpenter (2000). Hcomp(at Rc) < 24 mag

R(sky noise) = 2.5 Rc = 0.5 pc R(Sky Noise) = 4 Rc = 0.8 pc R(Sky Noise) > 20 Rc = 4-5 pc Hcomp(at Rc) < 17.8 mag. Hcomp(at Rc) < 15.3 mags. Core Radius not resolved.

25 kpc 50 kpc 0.5 Mpc

5 kpcPSF 0.5 kpc

The Trapezium on the Bleeding Edge: Sensitivity vs. Confusion...

2D Classificationfrom R=100 NIR Narrow-Bands(Meyer et al. 1998;Wallace et al. 2000)

Unresolved Super Star Clusters

in NGC 4038/4039

Mengel et al. (2002)

***

*

*

***

*

*

*

* *

* *

***

*

**

*

Ca Mg CO(2-0)

3 Myr

1 Myr

3 Myr

1 Myr

Age

6.44 +/- 0.30Ch03

6.27 +/- 0.44Ch03

11.01 +/- 0.44S55

8.98 +/- 0.82S55

EW(CaI +

CO(2-0))/EW(MgI)

IMF

S55 1 Myr

S55 3 Myr

Ch03 1 Myr

Ch03 3Myr

Meyer & Greissl, 2005, ApJL

IMF in Antennae Very Young SSC #6?

Greissl, Meyer, Christopher, & Scoville (2006)

“UD” HII Regions

(Proto-SSCs)

Johnson et al. (2001)

12”

Warm Debris Surrounding Sun-like Stars

Michael R. Meyer

Steward Observatory, The University of

Arizona D. Backman (NASA-Ames, D.P.I.) , S.V.W. Beckwith (STScI), J. Bouwman

(MPIA), T. Brooke (Caltech), J.M. Carpenter (Caltech), M. Cohen (UC-

Berkeley), U. Gorti (NASA-Ames), T. Henning (MPIA), L. Hillenbrand (Caltech,

D.P.I.), D. Hines (SSI), D. Hollenbach (NASA-Ames), J. Lunine (LPL), J.S. Kim

(Steward), R. Malhotra (LPL), E. Mamajek (CfA), A. Moro-Martin (Princeton ),

P. Morris (SSC), J. Najita (NOAO), D. Padgett (SSC), I. Pascucci (Steward), J.

Rodmann (MPIA), W. Schlingman (Steward), M. Silverstone (Steward), D.

Soderblom (STScI), J.R. Stauffer (SSC), B. Stobie (Steward), S. Strom

(NOAO), D. Watson (Rochester), S. Weidenschilling (PSI), S. Wolf (MPIA),

and E. Young (Steward).

Spitzer IRS/MIPS Reveals ``Needle'' in FEPS Haystack

Hines et al. (2006, ApJ, 638, 1070)

HD 12039 IR Excess: Temperature ~ 110 K – warm!

Hines et al. (2006, ApJ, 638, 1070)

Warm Debris and the Formation of Habitable Planets

(Cf. Meyer et al. 2006; Kenyon and Bromley, 2005)

Spectroscopic Observations of Transient

Dust Debris Surrounding Sun-like Stars

Beichman et al. (ApJ, 2005); See also Hines et al. (ApJ, 2006)

MIR