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Paper: The COMPLETE Survey of Star-Forming Regions on its Second Birthday
Volume: 323, Star Formation in the Interstellar Medium: In Honor of David Hollenbach, Chris McKee, and Frank Shu
Page: 171
Authors: Goodman, A.A.
Abstract: At age two, humans are just learning to speak, and they see the world in an unbiased way. At age two, the COMPLETE (COordinated Molecular Probe Line Extinction Thermal Emission) Survey of Star-Forming Regions is just beginning to hint at what it will do for our world view, and it is unbiased as well. The coordinated observations that comprise COMPLETE have already shown us: 1) that large (∼ 10 pc) scale bubbles created by winds from evolved stars dominate maps of extended dust emission even in relatively low-mass star-forming regions (e.g. Perseus and Ophiuchus); 2) that "giant" (> 1 pc-scale) outflows from young stars can be easily detected by applying statistical tools to an unbiased CO survey (e.g. we have doubled the number of known outflows in Perseus using the Spectral Correlation Function); and 3) that many apparent high column-density "clouds" seen in projection are actually the superposition of many velocity features (likely at different distances) along the line of sight. The upcoming detailed analysis of these new observations will quantify the degree to which the apparently ubiquitous spherical and collimated outflows can sculpt and stir molecular clouds. Taken together with recent numerical simulations' results and measurements of high velocities for some young stars, the COMPLETE Survey also raises, and should soon answer, questions about how, when, and how far stars move away from their birthplaces as functions of time.
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