Farhad's
main interest is to understand the physical processes that take
place in the nucleus of our galaxy, the nature of supernova remnants
interacting
with molecular clouds, and star formation occurring in HII regions.
The observation, analysis, and interpretation of the data is taken
with radio telescopes and to a lesser extent with infrared, X-ray
and optical telescopes. The
Galactic Center:
The
nucleus of our Galaxy is considered to be rich and complex in its
phenomenology. The activities occurring there are the extreme ends
of activities found in nuclei of active galaxies and the disk of
the Galaxy. I have worked on many different aspects of the unique
sources such as the massive black hole Sgr A* at the dynamical center
of the Galaxy. Recently, I have concentrated on the X-ray study
of the colliding winds in massive stellar clusters, the origin of
X-ray gas in the nucleus of the Galaxy as well as the origin of
magnetized radio filaments found within the inner few hundred light
years of the Galaxy. A recent review of what is happening at the
center of the Galaxy can be found in Science
magazine .
Supernova
Remnant Masers: The 1720-MHz
transition of OH molecule has recently been recognized as the
source of an important class of masers (i.e., microwave lasers),
the
so-called
``Supernova Masers''. These masers are produced when the expanding
supernova remnants interact with molecular clouds. The interaction
drives
a shock wave into the molecular cloud, compressing and heating the
gas,
which cools by emitting in a variety of molecular and atomic transitions
at infrared and millimeter wavelengths. A recent review of OH masers
in the Galaxy can be found in Science
magazine. Star
Formation:
Molecular
condensations associated with protostellar sources are found
within evolved HII regions. This suggests that a new generation
of massive
star formation has been induced by the expansion of the HII regions.
My interest is to study the region where the radiation field
from bright stars and the protostellar jets interact with
each other.
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