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While
OB stars are critical for
modern
Astrophysics, the physical process leading to their formation is among
the
least understood. The main reason for this disappointing fact is twofold.
- Observationally,
OB stars, which have masses
10 to 100 times
that of our Sun,
are
rare (rarer than solar-type stars) and their earliest phases, called
proto-OB stars, are difficult to study.
- Theoretically,
the
multi-scale compressible MHD models which are used to describe the
formation of
solar-type stars complicate even further with the introduction of the
physical
and chemical feedback processes of OB stars.
As a direct
consequence of
their rarity,
proto-OB stars must be surveyed for across the
whole Galaxy (area foreseen of several hundreds of square degrees) but then studied at
high-spatial resolution (sub-0.1 parsec scales and therefore at arcsecond or less scales).
It is now time to take
advantage of several
imaging surveys that will soon be performed in the critical
far-infrared to
submillimeter domain to
- locate these very rare proto-OB
stars,
- assess the importance of
triggered OB star formation, and
- constrain the physical process
at the origin of the formation of OB stars.
All these studies will be done
in the
perspective of the upcoming ALMA interferometer.
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