Related papers: Global Collapses and Expansions in Star-Forming Cl…
We review the progress that has been made in observing and analyzing molecular cloud structure in recent years. Structures are self-similar over a wide range of scales with similar power law indices independent of the star forming nature of…
We study the linear evolution of small perturbations in self-gravitating fluid systems in two spatial dimensions; we consider both cylindrical and cartesian (i.e., slab) geometries. The treatment is general, but the application is to…
Hot molecular cores (HMCs) are intermediate stages of high-mass star formation and are also known for their rich emission line spectra at (sub-)mm wavebands. The observed spectral feature of HMCs such as total number of emission lines and…
Understanding the gas abundance distribution is essential when tracing star formation using molecular line observations. Changing density and temperature conditions cause gas to freeze-out onto dust grains, and this needs to be taken into…
The formation of stars is inextricably linked to the structure of their parental molecular clouds. Here we take a number of nearby giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and analyse their column density and mass distributions. This investigation is…
We present a unified description of the scenario of Global Hierarchical Collapse and fragmentation (GHC) in molecular clouds (MCs), owing to the continuous decrease of the average Jeans mass in the contracting cloud. GHC constitutes a…
We investigate general aspects of molecular line formation under conditions which are typical of prestellar cores. Focusing on simple linear molecules, we study formation of their rotational lines by radiative transfer simulations. We…
(Abridged) We present a series of decaying turbulence simulations that represent a cluster-forming clump within a molecular cloud, investigating the role of magnetic fields on the formation of potential star-forming cores. We present an…
Molecular Cloud Complexes (MCCs) are highly structured and ``turbulent''. Observational evidence suggests that MCCs are dynamically dominated systems, rather than quasi-equilibrium entities. The observed structure is more likely a…
We use 3D-PDR, a three-dimensional astrochemistry code for modeling photodissociation regions (PDRs), to post-process hydrodynamic simulations of turbulent, star-forming clouds. We focus on the transition from atomic to molecular gas, with…
Observational evidence for inflowing motions in massive star forming regions has been extremely rare. We have made a spectroscopic survey of a sample of 28 massive star forming cores associated with water masers. An optically thick line of…
Linear analysis of the formation of protostellar cores in planar magnetic interstellar clouds shows that molecular clouds exhibit a preferred length scale for collapse that depends on the mass-to-flux ratio and neutral-ion collision time…
In the standard scenario of isolated low-mass star formation, strongly magnetized molecular clouds are envisioned to condense gradually into cores, driven by ambipolar diffusion. Once the cores become magnetically supercritical, they…
We present a study of analytic models of starless cores whose line profiles have ``infall asymmetry,'' or blue-skewed shapes indicative of contracting motions. We compare the ability of two types of analytical radiative transfer models to…
We report the results of a search for the double-peaked blue-skewed infall signature in the bright-rimmed cloud core SFO 11NE SMM1. Observations of the optically thick HCO$^{+}$ and optically thin H$^{13}$CO$^{+}$ J=3--2 lines reveal that…
Star formation is intimately linked to the dynamical evolution of molecular clouds. Turbulent fragmentation determines where and when protostellar cores form, and how they contract and grow in mass via accretion from the surrounding cloud…
I describe the scenario of molecular cloud (MC) evolution that has emerged over the past decade or so. MCs can start out as cold atomic clouds formed by compressive motions in the warm neutral medium (WNM) of galaxies. Such motions can be…
Redshifted self-absorption features in molecular lines are commonly interpreted as signatures of gravitational collapse in pre- and protostellar cores. The shape of the line profile then encodes information on the dynamics of the collapse.…
For a molecular cloud clump to form stars some transport of magnetic flux is required from the denser, inner regions to the outer regions of the cloud, otherwise this can prevent the collapse. Fast magnetic reconnection which takes place in…
We analyze a three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation of an evolving and later collapsing pre-stellar core. Using a three-dimensional continuum radiative transfer program, we generate images at 7 micron, 15 micron, 175…