Wednesday, 4th October 2006 at 1.30pm @ the JAC

ABSTRACT: Among the most important questions about the formation of massive stars is how star forming flows are able to accrete mass onto the stars. If we assume that they can form via accretion, what can we say about the relationship between accretion and the formation of an HII region around massive protostars? Can accretion continue despite the outward radiation and thermal pressures within the HII region? The large average distances to massive star forming regions make it difficult to observe accretion. However, we can observe the related processes involved in outflow generation. We have recently undertaken a survey of 23 massive star forming regions with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), and six regions with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). These regions were all previously known to contain both molecular outflows, and ultracompact HII regions. Through observations of a number of molecular species (i.e. CO, SiO, and HCO+), we can suggest that accretion is ongoing in a number of our sources despite the presence of an HII region, and that there must be a mechanism for accretion to continue beyond the onset of an HII region.