LUNINOSITY FUNCTIONS OF LOW MASS STAR IN NEARBY MOLECULAR CLOUDS 60 MICRON PHOTOMETRY OF REGIONS OBSERVED WITH CAM

the goal is to obtain a reliable determination of source counts and luminosity functions for lowmass, very young and embedded objects associated with a number of relatively nearby, well known molecular clouds. the proposed phtc100 observations at 60 micron concern the same areas to be surveyed with cam in two filters (lw2: 58.5 microns and lw3: 1218 microns) as part of the gt programme. they are required to determine the luminosities of the camdetected objects with energy distributions rising steeply towards the infrared (class i objects). the achievable 10 sigma point source sensitivity of about .1 jy is twice lower than the flux predicted to be emitted by a camdetected (10 sigma) class i object of luminosity as low as a few x 103 lo (assumed distance: 150 pc). together, the phtc100 and the cam programmes will result in a homogenous and large data base (likely to remain unique for the next 1020 years) of vital importance for the understanding of the formation and early evolution of small stars. although based on uncertain assumptions and boundary conditions, existing theories of lowmass star formation indicate that the relative number of accreting protostars at any time could be quite small. the source counts resulting from the proposed phtc100 observations may therefore also be small, but this type of validation data is urgently needed for further progress to be made. the explorative nature of the proposed observations must therefore be recognized and fully appreciated. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]