The aim of this thesis is to investigate evidence of heating and radiative feedback in local Gould Belt star-forming regions. I discuss what impact, if any, radiative feedback is having on the star formation. I primarily use Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array 2 (SCUBA-2) observations from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) Gould Belt legacy Survey (GBS) of nearby star-forming regions. I analyse this data in conjunction with catalogues of candidate young stellar objects (YSOcs) from mid-infrared surveys with Spitzer IRAC and MIPS surveys. I use the ratio of SCUBA-2 fluxes to calculate dust temperature, given a constant value of dust opacity spectral index, following the method of Reid & Wilson (2005). I employ a two-component beam (2CB) cross convolution to map the temperature of the Serpens MWC 297 region, achieving a resolution of 19.9′′. I employ a convolution kernel to map the temperature of the majority of the JCMT GBS, including the Aquila W40 complex, achieving a resolution of 14.8′′. I use the fellwalker clump finding algorithm to produce a global catalogue of 619 SCUBA-2 850 μm clumps across 26 distinct sub-regions of the JCMT GBS, calculating real temperatures where available. I was the PI of a proposal to observe 12CO 3-2 line emission, with the aim of decontaminating the SCUBA-2 850 μm band. I find 12CO 3-2 line contamination has a significant impact, increasing the dust temperatures calculated per pixel, on average, by 3 K where contamination is less than 10%, and by 16 K where contamination is greater than 10% (in the Aquila W40 complex). I find evidence for 12 outflows in this region, associated with active star formation. I also use archival VLA data to decontaminate both SCUBA-2 bands of free-free emission associated with massive star formation. Where compact free-free sources are sufficiently bright and optically thick, for example the B1.5Ve star MWC 297, their contribution can lead to prominent bright sources at the submillimeter wavelengths detected by SCUBA-2 and lower temperatures around Herbig stars. I present published studies of the Serpens MWC 297 region and the Aquila W40 complex. In both cases I find evidence that the presence of young OB stars is raising the temperatures of nearby clumps. Examining clumps across the JCMT GBS, I find that those clumps isolated from OB stars have a mean temperature of 15±2 K, a value that is consistent with gas temperatures (Friesen et al., 2009) and Bonnor-Ebert sphere models (Kirk et al., 2006). I find no evidence of heating from embedded low-to-medium mass YSOs. Clumps that lie within 3 pc of OB stars have a mean temperature of 21±4 K and O type stars heat clumps over the greatest range. By remodelling the heated clumps with a temperature of 15 K, I calculate that up to 10% of clumps in the JCMT GBS are no longer Jeans unstable, indicating that radiative feedback from OB stars is potentially suppressing fragmentation and allowing for the formation of more massive stars.

Quasar outflows are a major candidate for Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) feedback, and their capacity to influence the evolution of their host galaxy depends on the mass-flow rate (M) and kinetic luminosity (E) of the outflowing material. Both quantities require measurement of the distance (R) to the outflow from the central source as well as physical conditions of the outflow, which can be determined using spectral observations of the quasar. This thesis presents spectral analyses leading to measurements of R, M and E for three different quasar outflows. Analysis of LBQS J1206+1052 revealed multiple diagnostic spectral features that could each be used to independently determine R. These diagnostics yielded measurements that were in close agreement, resulting in a robust outflow distance of 840 pc from the central source. This measurement is much larger than predicted from radiative acceleration models (~0.01-0.1 pc), suggesting that outflows appear much farther from the central source than is generally assumed. The outflow in SDSS J0831+0354 was found to carry a kinetic luminosity of 10^45.7 erg/s, which corresponds to 5.2 per cent of the Eddington luminosity of the quasar. This outflow is one of the most energetic outflows to date and satisfies the criteria required to produce AGN feedback effects. A variability study of NGC 5548 revealed an obscuring cloud of gas that shielded the outflow components, dramatically lowering their ionization state. This resulted in the appearance of absorption from the rare element Phosphorus, as well as from sparsely-populated energy levels of CIII and SiIII. These spectral features allowed for an accurate determination of R and for constraints on the ionization phase to be obtained. The latter constraints were used to develop a self-consistent model that explained the variability of all six outflow components during five observing epochs spanning 16 years. / Ph. D.

Due to the finite speed of light and a vast, expanding universe, telescopes are just now receiving the light emitted by galaxies as they were forming in the very early universe. The light from these galaxies has been redshifted (stretched to longer, redder wavelengths) as a result of its journey through expanding space. Using sophisticated techniques and exceptional multi-wavelength optical and infrared data, we isolate a population of 378 galaxies in the process of formation when the Universe was only two billion years old. By matching the distinctive properties of the light spectra of these galaxies to models, the redshift, age, dust content, star formation rate and total stellar mass of each galaxy are determined. Comparing our results to similar surveys of galaxy populations at other redshifts, a picture emerges of the growth and evolution of massive, star-forming galaxies over the course of billions of years.

Due to the finite speed of light and a vast, expanding universe, telescopes are just now receiving the light emitted by galaxies as they were forming in the very early universe. The light from these galaxies has been redshifted (stretched to longer, redder wavelengths) as a result of its journey through expanding space. Using sophisticated techniques and exceptional multi-wavelength optical and infrared data, we isolate a population of 378 galaxies in the process of formation when the Universe was only two billion years old. By matching the distinctive properties of the light spectra of these galaxies to models, the redshift, age, dust content, star formation rate and total stellar mass of each galaxy are determined. Comparing our results to similar surveys of galaxy populations at other redshifts, a picture emerges of the growth and evolution of massive, star-forming galaxies over the course of billions of years.

Due to the finite speed of light and a vast, expanding universe, telescopes are just now receiving the light emitted by galaxies as they were forming in the very early universe. The light from these galaxies has been redshifted (stretched to longer, redder wavelengths) as a result of its journey through expanding space. Using sophisticated techniques and exceptional multi-wavelength optical and infrared data, we isolate a population of 378 galaxies in the process of formation when the Universe was only two billion years old. By matching the distinctive properties of the light spectra of these galaxies to models, the redshift, age, dust content, star formation rate and total stellar mass of each galaxy are determined. Comparing our results to similar surveys of galaxy populations at other redshifts, a picture emerges of the growth and evolution of massive, star-forming galaxies over the course of billions of years.

Due to the finite speed of light and a vast, expanding universe, telescopes are just now receiving the light emitted by galaxies as they were forming in the very early universe. The light from these galaxies has been redshifted (stretched to longer, redder wavelengths) as a result of its journey through expanding space. Using sophisticated techniques and exceptional multi-wavelength optical and infrared data, we isolate a population of 378 galaxies in the process of formation when the Universe was only two billion years old. By matching the distinctive properties of the light spectra of these galaxies to models, the redshift, age, dust content, star formation rate and total stellar mass of each galaxy are determined. Comparing our results to similar surveys of galaxy populations at other redshifts, a picture emerges of the growth and evolution of massive, star-forming galaxies over the course of billions of years.