MAgnetic Protostars and Planets (MAPP)
PI: Jean-François Donati, IRAP/Observatoire Midi-Pyrennees, 31400 Toulouse France.
Science
MaPP aims at studying the impact of magnetic fields on the physics of protostars and
accretion discs, and thus on the formation of stars and planetary systems. Youth is indeed the
period in the life of non-degenerate stars at which magnetic fields play a key role, through the
accretion/ejection processes involved in the collapse of the protostellar cloud. In particular, our
study will focus on the core regions of protostellar accretion discs, the newly born star and their
potential close-in giant planets. We propose to carry-out the first spectropolarimetric survey on
a significant sample of low-mass protostars, including a few bright protostellar accretion
discs; From this survey, we will study the large-scale magnetic field topologies of protostellar
objects using tomographic imaging techniques. By comparing these results to the predictions of
new theoretical models and MHD simulations, MaPP will answer several major open questions
on star formation and produce updated models incorporating the effect of magnetic fields.
MaPP is part of the international MagIcS initiative; all data collected with MaPP will thus
directly feed the MagIcS LEGACY database.
Observations
The MAgnetic Protostars and Planets (MAPP) is a CFHT large program that was allocated 690 hours of observing time on ESPaDOnS. The program was executed during the 2008A to 2012B semesters.
The data can be downloaded directly from the CADC using the following URLs:
Access all MAPP data at the CADC.
Raw data only.
Processed data only.