MENTEN , Karl

Due to the recent dramatic technological advances, infrared interferometry can now be applied to new classes of objects, resulting in exciting new science prospects, for instance, in the area of high-mass star formation. Although extensively studied at various wavelengths, the process through which massive stars form is still only poorly...

Circumstellar disks are an essential ingredient of the formation of low-mass stars. It is unclear, however, whether the accretion-disk paradigm can also account for the formation of stars more massive than about 10 solar masses, in which strong radiation pressure might halt mass infall. Massive stars may form by stellar merging, although more...