Predicting the Radiation Field of Molecular Clouds using Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models
Accurately quantifying the impact of radiation feedback in star formation is challenging. To address this complex problem, we employ deep learning techniques, denoising diffusion probabilistic models (DDPMs), to predict the interstellar radiation field (ISRF) strength based on three-band dust emission at 4.5 \um, 24 \um, and 250 \um. We adopt magnetohydrodynamic simulations from the STARFORGE (STAR FORmation in Gaseous Environments) project that model star formation and giant molecular cloud (GMC) evolution. We generate synthetic dust emission maps matching observed spectral energy distributions in the Monoceros R2 (MonR2) GMC. We train DDPMs to estimate the ISRF using synthetic three-band dust emission. The dispersion between the predictions and true values is within a factor of 0.1 for the test set. We further evaluate the diffusion model's performance on new simulations with ISRF intensities 10 and 100 times higher than that of the fiducial simulations. Despite a systematic underestimation factor of 1.8 and 2.7 for the higher ISRF simulations, the relative intensity remains well constrained. Meanwhile, our analysis reveals weak correlation between the ISRF solely derived from dust temperature and the actual ISRF. We apply our trained model to predict the ISRF in MonR2, revealing a correspondence between intense ISRF, bright sources, and high dust emission, confirming the model's ability to capture ISRF variations. Our model provides a robust means to predict the distribution of radiation feedback even where the ISRF is complex and not well constrained, such as in regions influenced by nearby star clusters.