Related papers: Tidal Disruption of Protoclusters in Giant Molecul…
Most formation scenarios of globular clusters assume a molecular cloud as the progenitor of the stellar system. However, it is still unclear, how this cloud is transformed into a star cluster, i.e. how the destructive processes related to…
Improving our understanding of the initial conditions and earliest stages of protostellar collapse is crucial to gain insight into the origin of stellar masses, multiple systems, and protoplanetary disks. Observationally, there are two…
The isothermal gravitational collapse and fragmentation of a region within a molecular cloud and the subsequent formation of a protostellar cluster is investigated numerically. The clump mass spectrum which forms during the fragmentation…
We present the results of dust continuum and molecular line observations of two massive cluster-forming clumps, NGC 2264-C and NGC 2264-D, including extensive mapping performed with the MAMBO bolometer array and the HERA heterodyne array on…
We performed sub-parsec (~0.06pc) scale simulations of two idealised molecular clouds with different masses undergoing a collision. Gas clumps with density greater than 1e-20 g/cm3 (0.3e4 cm-3) were identified as pre-stellar cores and…
Star cluster formation in giant molecular clouds involves the local collapse of the cloud into small gas-rich subclusters, which can then subsequently collide and merge to build up the final star cluster(s). In this paper, we simulate…
The evolution of collapsing metal free protostellar clouds is investigated for various masses and initial conditions. We perform hydrodynamical calculations for spherically symmetric clouds taking account of radiative transfer of the…
We present a detailed computational study of the assembly of protostellar disks and massive stars in molecular clouds with supersonic turbulence. We follow the evolution of large scale filamentary structures in a cluster-forming clump down…
Many questions in physical cosmology regarding the thermal history of the intergalactic medium, chemical enrichment, reionization, etc. are thought to be intimately related to the nature and evolution of pregalactic structure. In particular…
We present hydrodynamic simulations of self-gravitating dense gas in a galactic disk, exploring scales ranging from 1 kpc down to $\sim 0.1$~pc. Our primary goal is to understand how dense filaments form in Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs).…
We study the gravitational fragmentation of circumstellar discs accreting extremely metal-poor ($Z \leq 10^{-3}$ Zsun) gas, performing a suite of three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations using the adaptive mesh refinement code Enzo. We…
Simulations of isolated giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are an important tool for studying the dynamics of star formation, but their turbulent initial conditions (ICs) are uncertain. Most simulations have either initialized a velocity field…
Sufficiently massive clumps of molecular gas collapse under self-gravity and fragment to spawn a cluster of stars that have a range of masses. We investigate observationally the early stages of formation of a stellar cluster in a massive…
We present 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of the collapse of clumps formed through gravitational instability in the outer part of a protoplanetary disc. The initial conditions are taken directly from a global disc…
Recent (sub)millimeter continuum surveys of nearby star-forming regions have revealed a wealth of new, cold cloud fragments. Those which are small-scale (diameter < 10000 AU), starless, and gravitationally bound are good candidates for…
We compare the observed bivariate distribution of masses(M) and ages(t) of star clusters in the LMC with the predicted distributions g(M,t) from 3 idealized models for the disruption of star clusters: (1)sudden mass-dependent…
We propose that bound, young massive stellar clusters form from dense clouds that have escape speeds greater than the sound speed in photo-ionized gas. In these clumps, radiative feedback in the form of gas ionization is bottled up,…
The discovery of a hyper metal-poor star with total metallicity of $\le 10^{-5}$ Z$_\odot$, has motivated new investigations of how such objects can form from primordial gas polluted by a single supernova. In this paper we present a…
Star formation does not occur until the onset of gravitational collapse inside giant molecular clouds. However, the conditions that initiate cloud collapse and regulate the star formation process remain poorly understood. Local processes…
Giant clumps on ~kpc scales and with masses of 10^8-10^9 Msol are ubiquitous in observed high-redshift disc galaxies. Recent simulations and observations with high spatial resolution indicate the existence of substructure within these…