Studying Young Massive Clusters using high-resolution wide-field imaging

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to advance the instrumentation and techniques necessary to study Young Massive Clusters. These clusters offer ideal laboratories for the study of star formation as they contain a single metalicity, single age population that is well sampled across the entire stellar mass range. These objects are generally highly obscured by dust, are extended on the sky and contain dense stellar cores where observations are limited by crowding. Infrared, wide-field high-resolution imaging capability with ground layer adaptive optics can address all of those concerns. Proper motions determined from precision astrometry can be used to separate cluster sources form contaminating objects using proper motions. Infrared imaging mitigates the effects of extinction and wide field imaging allows programs to be carried out efficiently. This thesis summarizes progress towards this goal along a few avenues. First, analysis techniques are developed and applied to existing archival data of the cluster Westerlund 2 to evaluate kinematic cluster membership and measure the kinematic substructure of the cluster. Second, work on accurately calibrating optical distortion in order to enable precise astrometric measurements for existing systems is presented. Finally, work on the integration and commissioning of the GLAO pathfinder instrument 'imaka are presented as progress towards demonstrating accurate astrometric measurements over ~ 18 arcminute fields of view at Maunakea.