Visiting Scholar (Kagoshima University)
My major research is to study how solar-type stars form in the clouds of molecular gas and dust in the interstellar space. I have two specific strategies to study star formation. One is observing emission from various molecules at millimeter wavelengths in star-forming clouds and studying chemistry of the clouds, because the chemical evolution of the clouds can be linked to the physical evolution into the star formation. The other strategy is single-dish and interferometric observations of molecular emission at submillimeter wavelengths, with the forefront submillimeter telescopes such as SMA, ASTE, and ALMA. Submillimeter molecular lines trace warmer molecular gas, allowing us to study the close vicinity of the forming star.