Thesis--University of Florida. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 226-233).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Optical absorption line techniques have been applied to the study of a number of translucent molecular clouds in which the total column densities are large enough that substantial molecular abundances can be maintained. Results are presented for a survey of absorption lines of interstellar C2, CH, and CN. Detections of CN through the A2II -X2E+ (1,0) and (2,0) bands of the red system are reported, and are compared with observations of the blue system for one line of sight. The population distributions in C2 provide diagnostic information on temperature and density. The measured column densities of the three species can be used to test details of the theory of molecule formation in clouds where photo -processes still play a significant role. The C2 and CH column densities are strongly correlated with each other and probably also with the H2 column density. In contrast, the CN column densities are found to vary greatly from cloud to cloud. The observations are discussed with reference to detailed theoretical models.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Toledo, 2009. / Typescript. " As partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science in Physics." "A thesis entitled"--at head of title. Bibliography: leaves 21-22.

The effect of dust/gas heating and cooling is shown to have a significant effect on the process of clustered star formation. Compared to an isothermal simulation, a simulation with a more accurate description of the equation of state produces an order of magnitude fewer stars as well as stars of much greater mass. The energetics algorithm used to calculate the dust and gas temperature includes the radiative heating of dust, dust-gas collisional heating/cooling, cosmic-ray heating, and molecular cooling. It uses DUSTY, a spherical continuum radiative transfer code, to model the dust temperature distribution around young stellar objects with various luminosities and surrounding gas and dust density distributions. The gas temperature is then determined by assuming energy balance. Before the complete energetics algorithm is included in a simulation, first only the dust heating component is included. The gas temperature is then set solely by the dust temperature. The resultant mass functions of our simulations which include heating are compared to those which assume an isothermal equation of state. We find that including dust heating severely limits star formation; we form at least an order of magnitude fewer objects when we include dust heating compared to an isothermal simulation. The mass functions from our simulations which include heating are much more similar than the mass functions from our isothermal simulations to the observed mass functions, in that they are able to form high-mass stars (M [> subscript tilde] 10M[solar mass]). The distribution of the high-mass objects is well-approximated by the Salpeter initial mass function. Including the complete energetics algorithm in a simulation produces results similar to a simulation with only dust heating. Both simulations have similar density profile parameters. The mass accretion, mass, and luminosity evolution of the sinks is also similar. The average temperature, however, is cooler than the simulation with only dust heating. We form fewer objects comparatively and are still unable to form enough low and intermediate-mass objects to replicate the observed mass function. This may be an effect of small number statistics, or possibly physical processes that are not considered in this work. / text

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Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. / xviii, 406 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm