Related papers: On the star formation rate and turbulent dissipati…
We combine the latest observations of disk galaxy photometry and rotation curves at moderate redshift from the FORS Deep Field (FDF) with simple models of chemical enrichment. Our method describes the buildup of the stellar component…
We explore a model in which efficient star formation in galaxies is triggered by merging satellites. We show that the merger/interaction rates predicted by hierarchical galaxy formation models depend strongly on galaxy mass. If a merger of…
We derive an analytic prediction for the star formation rate in environments ranging from normal galactic disks to starbursts and ULIRGs in terms of the observables of those systems. Our calculation is based on three premises: (1) star…
Observations suggest that star formation occurs in only one or two crossing times for a range of scales spanning a factor of 1000. These observations include (1) measurements of embedded cluster ages in comparison with the cloud core…
Star formation in galaxies is inefficient, and understanding how star formation is regulated in galaxies is one of the most fundamental challenges of contemporary astrophysics. Radiative cooling, feedback from supernovae and active galactic…
The formation of stars from gas drives the evolution of galaxies. Yet, it remains one of the hardest processes to understand when trying to connect observations of stellar and galaxy populations to models of large scale structure formation.…
A spectrophotometric model able to compute the integrated spectrum of a galaxy, including the contribution both of the stellar populations and of the ionized interstellar gas of the HII regions powered by young hot stars, has been used to…
We present an analysis of the positions and ages of young star clusters in eight local galaxies to investigate the connection between the age difference and separation of cluster pairs. We find that star clusters do not form uniformly but…
Recent progress in the understanding of star formation is summarized. A consistent picture is emerging where molecular clouds form with turbulent velocity fields and clumpy substructure, imprinted already during their formation. The clouds…
To address the problem concerning the early formation of stars in massive galaxies, we present the results of a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation which includes a physical description of starbursts triggered by galaxy interactions.…
Observations of the high redshift Universe, interpreted in the context of a new generation of computer simulated model Universes, are providing new insights into the processes by which galaxies and quasars form and evolve, as well as the…
The timescale for star formation, a measure of how quickly neutral gas is being converted to stars, is considerably longer than typical dynamical timescales associated with a galactic disk. For purposes of modeling galaxy evolution,…
Star formation is one of the least understood processes in cosmic evolution. It is difficult to formulate a general theory for star formation in part because of the wide range of physical processes involved. The interstellar gas out of…
Selected results from recent studies of star formation in galaxies at different stages of interaction are reviewed. Recent results from the Spitzer Space Telescope are highlighted. Ideas on how large-scale driving of star formation in…
Turbulence can significantly accelerate the growth of dust grains by accretion of molecules. For dust dynamically coupled to the gas, the growth rate scales with the square of the Mach number, which means that the growth timescale can…
This lecture reviews the fundamental physical processes involved in star formation in galaxy interactions and mergers. Interactions and mergers often drive intense starbursts, but the link between interstellar gas physics, large scale…
A chromospheric age distribution of 552 late-type dwarfs is transformed into a star formation history by the application of scale height corrections, stellar evolutionary corrections and volume corrections. We show that the disk of our…
In search for a synthetic understanding, a scenario for the evolution of the star formation rate and the chemical abundances in galaxies is proposed, combining gas infall from galactic halos, outflow of gas by supernova explosions, and an…
Effective star formation rates in tabular form are computed which yield a prescription for the star formation activity in model galaxies as a function of ambient density, metallicity, and stellar feedback. The effects of supernova…
We propose a simple theoretical model for star formation in which the local star formation rate in a galaxy is determined by three factors. First, the interplay between the interstellar radiation field and molecular self-shielding…