Brian Svoboda (NRAO): "New Frontiers in Spectral Line Modeling: Towards a Bayesian View of Dense Gas in the Milky Way"

Advancements in instrumentation and new generations of astronomical facilities have enabled sensitive, wide-field spectroscopic surveys of the Milky Way. In order for astronomers to draw upon these surveys to advance the study of star formation and the interstellar medium, new spectral line modeling techniques are needed for robust and automated analysis of gas physical properties and kinematics. In this talk I will review new surveys and innovative tools used to study molecular tracers of dense gas (e.g., ammonia and formaldehyde), and highlight a new application of Bayesian model selection for evaluating spectral multiplicity in large datasets (i.e., multiple velocity components). I will also describe computationally efficient radiative transfer modeling tools used to infer gas temperatures and densities. Lastly, I will discuss future applications of spatio-spectral line modeling to Galactic Plane observations (e.g., GUSTO, ALMA-WSU).