Related papers: Filaments, Collapse and Outflows in Massive Star F…
In order to distinguish between the various components of massive star forming regions (i.e. infalling, outflowing and rotating gas structures) within our own Galaxy, we require high angular resolution observations which are sensitive to…
We present results from the first three-dimensional calculations ever to follow the collapse of a molecular cloud core (~ 10^{-18} g cm^{-3}) to stellar densities (> 0.01 g cm^{-3}). The calculations resolve structures over 7 orders of…
Here we model a star forming factory in which the continuous creation of stars results in a highly concentrated, massive (globular cluster-like) stellar system. We show that under very general conditions a large-scale gravitational…
The formation of massive stars is currently an unsolved problems in astrophysics. Understanding the formation of massive stars is essential because they dominate the luminous, kinematic, and chemical output of stars. Furthermore, their…
We present radiation hydrodynamic simulations of collapsing protostellar cores with initial masses of 30, 100, and 200 M$_{\odot}$. We follow their gravitational collapse and the formation of a massive protostar and protostellar accretion…
We present a detailed study of the collapse of molecular cloud cores using high resolution 3D adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) numerical simulations. In this first in a series of investigations our initial conditions consists of spherical…
How high-mass stars form remains unclear currently. Calculation suggests that the radiation pressure of a forming star can halt spherical infall, preventing its further growth when it reaches 10 M$_{\odot}$. Two major theoretical models on…
We propose that cold filamentary accretion in massive galaxies at high redshift can lead to the formation of star-forming clumps in the halos of these galaxies without the presence of dark matter sub-structure. In certain cases, these…
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…
Star formation efficiency controlled by the protostellar outflow in a single cloud core is investigated by three-dimensional resistive MHD simulations. Starting from the prestellar cloud core, the star formation process is calculated until…
The efficiency of star formation, defined as the ratio of the stellar to total (gas and stellar) mass, is observed to vary from a few percent in regions of dispersed star formation to about a third in cluster-forming cores. This difference…
The fate of massive cold clumps, their internal structure and collapse need to be characterised to understand the initial conditions for the formation of high-mass stars, stellar systems, and the origin of associations and clusters. We…
We review recent advances in the analytical and numerical modeling of the star formation rate in molecular clouds and discuss the available observational constraints. We focus on molecular clouds as the fundamental star formation sites,…
The asymmetric molecular emission lines from dense cores reveal slow, inward motion in the clouds' outer regions. This motion is present both before and after the formation of a central star. Motivated by these observations, we revisit the…
Recent observations of molecular clouds around rich massive star clusters including NGC3603, Westerlund 2, and M20 revealed that the formation of massive stars could be triggered by a cloud-cloud collision. By using three-dimensional,…
We investigate, through a series of numerical calculations, the evolution of dense cores that are accreting external gas up to and beyond the point of star formation. Our model clouds are spherical, unmagnetized configurations with fixed…
Recent simulations and observations suggest that star clusters form via the assembling of smaller sub-clusters. Because of their short relaxation time, sub-clusters experience core collapse much earlier than virialized solo-clusters, which…
A fundamental issue in star formation is understanding the precise mechanisms leading to the formation of prestellar cores, and their subsequent gravitationally unstable evolution. To address this question, we carefully construct a suite of…
I review the status of massive star formation theories: accretion from collapsing, massive, turbulent cores; competitive accretion; and stellar collisions. I conclude the observational and theoretical evidence favors the first of these…
We examine whether massive-star accretion disks are likely to fragment due to self-gravity. Rapid accretion and high angular momentum push these disks toward fragmentation, whereas viscous heating and the high protostellar luminosity…