Kei E. I. Tanaka

Assistant Professor
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Tokyo Institute of Technology

Welcome to my page!

I'm an astrophysicist, studying the birth of stars and planets.

Recent Topics

• Mat 28, 2024: Paper Accepted! Gardiner et al. 2024, ApJ
  Our paper on shock ionization and radio emission in outflows of massive star formation has been published. The model provides insights into observed radio luminosities and variabilities.

• Mar 2, 2024: Paper Accepted! Xu et al. 2024, ApJ
  Our paper on the synthetic CO line spectra of massive protostellar outflows has been accepted. The synthetic spectra is an excellent tool to connect the theoretical MHD simulations and actual observations.

• Jan 20, 2024: I have received the Yoshinori Ohsumi Award for Fundamental Research from Tokyo Institute of Technology!
  The award was given in recognition of my research project titled 'How to Form the Most Massive Stars'.

• Dec 20, 2023: I have received the Young Researcher Encouragement Award from the School of Science at Tokyo Institute of Technology!
  The award was given in recognition of my research project titled 'Exploring the Birth of Massive Stars through the Integration of Theory and Observation'.

• Nov 20, 2023: Paper Accepted! Crowe et al. 2024, A&A
  Our paper on the near-infrared adaptive-optics observations of the massive star-forming region AFGL 5180 has been accepted. Detailed structures of the massive protostars associated with a small cluster are revealed.

•  Nov 2, 2023: Paper Accepted! Gorai et al. 2024, ApJ
  Our paper on the ALMA observations of the massive protostar G28.20-0.05 has been accepted. Chemical properties of three hot cores witin a small scale are revealed.

• October 24, 2023: Paper Accepted! Inoguchi, Hosokawa et al. 2024, MNRAS
  Our paper on the observational signatures of forming young massive clusters has been accepted. We've identified characteristic spectral features at radio and infrared frequencies that provide insights into the formation processes of young massive clusters.

• August 30, 2023: Paper Accepted! Sewiło, Tokuda et al. 2023, ApJ
  Our paper on the detection of higher-order hydrogen recombination lines in the Large Magellanic Cloud has been accepted. Using ALMA, we've made the first extragalactic detection of γ-, ε-, and η-transitions in the star-forming region N105, uncovering vital insights into the ionized gas and star formation processes in this area.

• August 18, 2023: Paper Accepted! Bhat et al. 2023, ApJ
  Our paper on complex organic molecules in low-mass star-forming regions is accepted. Using the ASAI data from the IRAM 30 m telescope, we found that their abundances correlate with the luminosity of the sources and peak at the class 0 phase.

• August 10, 2023: Paper Accepted! Tokuda, Harada, Tanaka et al. 2023, ApJ
  Our paper on filamentary molecular clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud is accepted. Using ALMA  HCO+ data, we discovered 14 hub-filamentary structures, which is the key in forming massive stellar systems.

• May 10, 2023: Press Release! "First Detection of Hot Cores in the Small Magellanic Cloud - Approaching the Chemical Evolution in the Early Universe"
  The press release on our recent ApJL paper was issued from Niigata Univ (Japanese only). 

• April 8, 2023: Our paper on the first detection of the SMC hot cores, Shimonishi et al. 2023, is featured by AAS Nova!

• March 15, 2023: Paper Accepted! Yamamuro, Tanaka, and Okuzumi 2023, ApJ
  Our paper on dust growth in massive star formation is accepted. We demonstrate that massive protostellar disks offer new insights into the size  evolution of silicate grains. 

• March 2, 2023: Paper Accepted! Shimonishi, Tanaka et al. 2023, ApJL
  Our paper on hot molecular cores in the Small Magellanic Cloud is accepted. Since the methanol abundance varies significantly from hot core to hot core in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, highly-excited emission lines of sulfur dioxide are more suitable as hot core tracers.

• February 17, 2023: Paper Accepted! Staff, Tanaka et al. 2023, ApJ
  Our paper on MHD simulations of disk wind feedback in massive star formation is accepted. We show the evolution of the outflow opening angle and evaluate the SFE of ~0.4-0.7, consistent with observations.

• Jan 1, 2023: Moved to Tokyo Tech