Related papers: Solenoidal versus compressive turbulence forcing
We present numerical simulations of decaying hydrodynamic turbulence initially driven by solenoidal (divergence-free) and compressive (curl-free) driving. Most previous numerical studies for decaying turbulence assume an isothermal equation…
We analyze high resolution simulations of compressible, MHD turbulence with properties resembling conditions in galaxy clusters. The flow is driven to turbulence Mach number $\mathcal{M}_t \sim 1/2$ in an isothermal medium with an initially…
We present numerical investigations into the formation of massive stars from centrally condensed turbulent cores. The results of five hydrodynamical simulations are described, following the collapse of the core, fragmentation and the…
We investigate the turbulence driving mode of ionizing radiation from massive stars on the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM). We run hydrodynamical simulations of a turbulent cloud impinged by a plane-parallel ionization front. We find…
In star-forming clouds, high velocity flow gives rise to large fluctuations of density. In this work we explore the correlation between velocity magnitude (speed) and density. We develop an analytic formula for the joint probability…
We show that supersonic MHD turbulence yields a star formation rate (SFR) as low as observed in molecular clouds (MCs), for characteristic values of the free-fall time divided by the dynamical time, $t_{\rm ff}/t_{\rm dyn}$, the…
We examine the effects of self-gravity and magnetic fields on supersonic turbulence in isothermal molecular clouds with high resolution simulations and adaptive mesh refinement. These simulations use large root grids (512^3) to capture…
The star formation rate (SFR), the number of stars formed per unit of time, is a fundamental quantity in the evolution of the Universe. While turbulence is believed to play a crucial role in setting the SFR, the exact mechanism remains…
We conduct numerical experiments to determine the density probability distribution function (PDF) produced in supersonic, isothermal, self-gravitating turbulence of the sort that is ubiquitous in star-forming molecular clouds. Our…
Supersonic turbulence plays a dual role in molecular clouds: On one hand, it contributes to the global support of the clouds, while on the other it promotes the formation of small-scale density fluctuations, identifiable with clumps and…
Molecular clouds are supersonically turbulent. This turbulence governs the initial mass function and the star formation rate. In order to understand the details of star formation, it is therefore essential to understand the properties of…
We examine the physical parameters that affect the accumulation of gas in molecular clouds to high column densities where the formation of stars takes place. In particular, we analyze the dense gas mass fraction (DGMF) in a set of…
We performed numerical simulations of supersonic isothermal turbulence driven by mostly compressive large-scale forcing, using both a static grid and adaptive mesh refinement with an effective resolution N=768^3. After a transient phase…
We summarize recent numerical results on the control of the star formation efficiency (SFE), addressing the effects of turbulence and the magnetic field strength. In closed-box numerical simulations, the effect of the turbulent Mach number…
We investigate numerically the combined effects of supersonic turbulence, strong magnetic fields and ambipolar diffusion on cloud evolution leading to star formation. We find that, in clouds that are initially magnetically subcritical,…
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…
It is widely accepted that supersonic, magnetised turbulence plays a fundamental role for star formation in molecular clouds. It produces the initial dense gas seeds out of which new stars can form. However, the exact relation between gas…
We present an analytical model of the relation between the surface density of gas and star formation rate in galaxies and clouds, as a function of the presence of supersonic turbulence and the associated structure of the interstellar…
We compute the star formation rate (SFR) in molecular clouds (MCs) that originate {\it ab initio} in a new, higher-resolution simulation of supernova-driven turbulence. Because of the large number of well-resolved clouds with…
The majority of stars are thought to form in clusters. Cluster formation in dense clumps of molecular clouds is strongly influenced, perhaps controlled, by supersonic turbulence. We have previously shown that the turbulence in regions of…