English

Connecting the Cosmic Star Formation Rate with the Local Star Formation

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2017-11-15 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Abstract

We present a model that unifies the cosmic star formation rate (CSFR), obtained through the hierarchical structure formation scenario, with the (Galactic) local star formation rate (SFR). It is possible to use the SFR to generate a CSFR mapping through the density probability distribution functions (PDFs) commonly used to study the role of turbulence in the star-forming regions of the Galaxy. We obtain a consistent mapping from redshift z20z\sim 20 up to the present (z=0z = 0). Our results show that the turbulence exhibits a dual character, providing high values for the star formation efficiency (ε0.32\langle\varepsilon\rangle \sim 0.32) in the redshift interval z3.520z\sim 3.5-20 and reducing its value to ε=0.021\langle\varepsilon\rangle = 0.021 at z=0z = 0. The value of the Mach number (Mcrit\mathcal{M}_{\rm crit}), from which ε\langle\varepsilon\rangle rapidly decreases, is dependent on both the polytropic index (Γ\Gamma) and the minimum density contrast of the gas. We also derive Larson's first law associated with the velocity dispersion (Vrms\langle V_{\rm rms}\rangle) in the local star formation regions. Our model shows good agreement with Larson's law in the 1050pc\sim 10-50\,{\rm pc} range, providing typical temperatures T01080KT_{0} \sim 10-80\,{\rm K} for the gas associated with star formation. As a consequence, dark matter halos of great mass could contain a number of halos of much smaller mass, and be able to form structures similar to globular clusters. Thus, Larson's law emerges as a result of the very formation of large-scale structures, which in turn would allow the formation of galactic systems, including our Galaxy.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1711.02481,
  title  = {Connecting the Cosmic Star Formation Rate with the Local Star Formation},
  author = {Carolina Gribel and Oswaldo D. Miranda and Jose Williams Vilas-Boas},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.02481},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

ApJ accepted