Colloquium on Dec. 24, 2020

The First CO Image of a Water Fountain, and beyond

Speaker: Jun-ichi Nakashima (SYSU)

Venue: Video Conference

Time: 15:00 PM, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020

Abstract:

In this seminar, I'm going to talk about "water fountain" objects that has recently attracted attention in the field of evolved star research. The circumstellar envelope of small and intermediate-mass stars is known to change from spherically symmetric morphology to complex shapes, such as those eventually found in planetary nebulae, but the physical mechanism behind this morphological evolution is not fully understood yet. Since a very tiny molecular jet with a short dynamical timescale is harbored in the central part of water fountains, this object is thought to be at the very early stage in its morphological evolution. Today's talk will begin with a general introduction to evolved star research and also explain the scientific importance of water fountain research. Then, I will present the results of our recent ALMA observation on a proto-typical water fountain W43A. Finally, I will introduce our new project on water fountains we have just started recently at SYSU.

Report PPT:  SWIFAR_Jun-ichi Nakashima.pdf