Related papers: Cooling, Gravity and Geometry: Flow-driven Massive…
Observations of molecular structures on scales of $\sim 0.1-50$ pc show that the specific angular momentum ($j$) scales with radius ($R$) as $j\sim R^{3/2}$. We study the effects of turbulence, gravity, and the magnetic field in shaping…
We present mapping results of two prestellar cores, L1544 and L694-2, embedded in filamentary clouds in C$^{18}$O (3-2), $^{13}$CO (3-2), $^{12}$CO (3-2), HCO$^+$ (4-3), and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ (4-3) with the JCMT telescope to examine the role…
Observed molecular clouds often appear to have very low star formation efficiencies and lifetimes an order of magnitude longer than their free-fall times. Their support is attributed to the random supersonic motions observed in them. We…
We study thermal-gravitational instability in simplified models for protogalactic halos using three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. The simulations followed the evolution of gas with radiative cooling down to T = 10^4 K, background…
The large-scale structure in the Universe is believed to arise out of small random density perturbations generated in the very early Universe, that are amplified by gravity. Large and usually intricate N-body simulations are typically…
How does turbulence contribute to the formation and structure of the dense interstellar medium (ISM)? Molecular clouds are dense, high-pressure objects. It is usually argued that gravitational confinement causes the high pressures, and that…
We construct models of molecular clouds that are considered as ensembles of transient cores. Each core is assumed to develop in the background gas of the cloud, grow to high density and decay into the background. The chemistry in each core…
A fraction of the dense cores within a turbulent molecular cloud will eventually collapse to form stars. Identifying the physical criteria for instability and analyzing critical core properties is therefore necessary to star formation…
Prestellar cores are generally spheroidal, some of which appear oblate while others appear prolate. Very few of them appear circular in projection. Little, however, is understood about the processes or the physical conditions under which…
In the standard picture of isolated star formation, dense ``starless'' cores are formed out of magnetic molecular clouds due to ambipolar diffusion. Under the simplest spherical geometry, I demonstrate that ``starless'' cores formed this…
We present the first detailed classification of the structures of Class 0 cores in a high resolution simulation of a giant molecular cloud. The simulated cloud contains 10^4 solar masses and produces over 350 cores which allows for…
Filamentary flows toward the centre of molecular clouds have been recognized as a crucial process in the formation and evolution of stellar clusters. In this paper, we present a comprehensive observational study that investigates the gas…
We present idealized numerical simulations of prestellar gravitational collapse of a moderate initial filamentary perturbation with an additional central ellipsoidal enhancement (a core) considering a uniform, and a stratified background,…
This paper describes 3D simulations of the formation of collapsing cold clumps via thermal instability inside a larger cloud complex. The initial condition was a diffuse atomic, stationary, thermally unstable, 200pc diameter spherical cloud…
We investigate the formation of GMCs in spiral galaxies through both agglomeration of clouds in the spiral arms, and self gravity. The simulations presented include two-fluid models, which contain both cold and warm gas, although there is…
We analytically investigate the modes of gravity-induced star formation possible in idealized finite molecular clouds where global collapse competes against both local Jeans instabilities and discontinuous edge instabilities. We examine…
Formation of interstellar clouds as a consequence of thermal instability is studied using two-dimensional two-fluid magnetohydrodynamic simulations. We consider the situation of converging, supersonic flows of warm neutral medium in the…
Stars are thought to form predominantly within filamentary molecular clouds. Recent studies have suggested that active star formation, including the formation of stellar clusters and massive stars, occurs within so-called "hub" structures,…
We report results of molecular line observations carried out toward a massive dense core in the Cyg OB 7 molecular cloud. The core has an extraordinarily large mass ($\sim1.1 \times 10^4$ $M_\odot$) and size ($\sim2 \times 5$ pc$^2$), but…
We investigate collisions between giant molecular clouds (GMCs) as potential generators of their internal turbulence. Using magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of self-gravitating, magnetized, turbulent, GMCs, we compare kinematic and…