Related papers: On the Timescale for Star Formation in Galaxies
The Lin and Pringle model (1987) of galactic disk formation postulates that if star formation proceeds on the same timescale as the viscous redistribution of mass and angular momentum in disk galaxies, then the stars attain an exponential…
Star formation has often been studied by separating the low- and high-mass regimes with an approximate boundary at 8M_sun. While some of the outcomes of the star-formation process are different between the two regimes, it is less clear…
We investigate the physical origin of the star formation scaling relations between the gas depletion time, the star-forming gas mass fraction, and the gas surface density, $\Sigma_{\rm gas}$, on kiloparsec scales, all of which are the key…
Observations that resolve nearby galaxies into individual regions across multiple phases of the gas-star formation-feedback ``matter cycle'' have provided a sharp new view of molecular clouds, star formation efficiencies, timescales for…
We suggest a model for star formation function and a model for dissipation of the turbulent energy of interstellar medium. Star formation function takes into account the effect of turbulization of the ISM. It is shown that application of…
The empirical laws of star formation suggest that galactic-scale gravity is involved, but they do not identify the actual triggering mechanisms for clusters in the final stages. Many other triggering processes satisfy the empirical laws…
A simple, observationally-motivated model is presented for understanding how halo masses, galaxy stellar masses, and star formation rates are related, and how these relations evolve with time. The relation between halo mass and galaxy…
Galaxies cover a wide range of masses and star formation histories. In this review, I summarize some of the evolutionary key features of common galaxy types. At the high-mass end, very rapid, efficient early star formation is observed,…
Star formation on galactic scales is known to be a slow process, but whether it is slow on smaller scales is uncertain. We cross-correlate 5469 giant molecular clouds (GMCs) from a new all-sky catalog with 256 star forming complexes (SFCs)…
We summarize some of the results obtained from Herschel surveys of the nearby star forming regions and the Galactic plane. We show that in the nearby star forming regions the starless core spatial surface density distribution is very…
Properties of normal galactic star formation, including the density dependence, threshold density, turbulent scaling relations, and clustering properties, are applied to the formation of galactic bulges. One important difference is that the…
We explore various instability models for the onset of star formation in irregular galaxies. Critical gas densities are calculated for gravitational instabilities with a thin, pure-gas disk, and with a thick disk composed of gas and a…
A large deep and nearly complete B<24.5 redshift sample is used to measure the change in distribution function of the stellar mass production rate in individual galaxies with redshift. The evolution of the star formation rate distribution…
We study the connection of star formation to atomic (HI) and molecular hydrogen (H$_2$) in isolated, low metallicity dwarf galaxies with high-resolution ($m_{\rm gas}$ = 4 M$_\odot$, $N_{\rm ngb}$ = 100) SPH simulations. The model includes…
Timescales in astronomy comprise the largest range of any scientific discipline. In the construction of physical models, this circumstance may both be a blessing and a curse. For example, galaxy evolution occurs on typical timescales of…
Although the basic physics of star formation is classical, numerical simulations have yielded essential insights into how stars form. They show that star formation is a highly nonuniform runaway process characterized by the emergence of…
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…
In models of galaxy formation in a hierarchical Universe, elliptical galaxies form through the merging of smaller disk systems. These models yield a number of testable predictions if reliable techniques for determining the relative ages and…
The goal of this investigation is to reconstruct the cosmic star formation rate density history from local observations and in doing so to gain insight into how galaxies might have formed and evolved. A new chemical evolution model is…
Observations of nearby galaxies have firmly established, over a broad range of galactic environments and metallicities, that star formation occurs exclusively in the molecular phase of the interstellar medium (ISM). Theoretical models show…