Related papers: Star Formation Timescales and the Schmidt Law
We combine Spitzer 24micron observations with data from the COMBO-17 survey for ~15,000 0.2<z<1 galaxies to determine how the average star formation rates (SFR) have evolved for galaxy sub-populations of different stellar masses. In the…
The interplay between atomic gas, the star-formation history of a galaxy and its environment are intrinsically linked, and we need to decouple these dependencies to understand their role in galaxy formation and evolution. In this paper, we…
The Schmidt-Kennicutt relation links the surface densities of gas to the star formation rate in galaxies. The physical origin of this relation, and in particular its break, i.e. the transition between an inefficient regime at low gas…
We study the recent star formation histories of local galaxies by analyzing the scatter in their colours and spectral properties. We present evidence that the distribution of star formation histories changes qualitatively above a…
The relative distribution of molecular gas and star formation in galaxies gives insight into the physical processes and timescales of the cycle between gas and stars. In this work, we track the relative spatial configuration of CO and…
The evolution of the star formation rate in the Galaxy is one of the key ingredients quantifying the formation and determining the chemical and luminosity evolution of galaxies. Many complementary methods exist to infer the star formation…
We derive an analytic prediction for the star formation rate in environments ranging from normal galactic disks to starbursts and ULIRGs in terms of the observables of those systems. Our calculation is based on three premises: (1) star…
We extend existing semi-analytic models of galaxy formation to track atomic and molecular gas in disk galaxies. Simple recipes for processes such as cooling, star formation, supernova feedback, and chemical enrichment of the stars and gas…
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…
The effect of galaxy interactions on star formation has been investigated using Data Release 1 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Both the imaging and spectroscopy data products have been used to construct a catalogue of nearest…
We examine the cosmic star formation rate (SFR) and its dependence on galaxy stellar mass over the redshift range 0.8 < z < 2 using data from the Gemini Deep Deep Survey (GDDS). The SFR in the most massive galaxies (M > 10^{10.8} M_sun) was…
Star formation histories (SFHs) of galaxies are affected by a variety of factors, both external (field vs. cluster/group) and internal (presence of a bar and AGN, morphological type). In this work, we extend our previous study and apply the…
We present a detailed description of a phenomenological H2 formation model and local star formation prescription based on the density of molecular (rather than total) gas. Such approach allows us to avoid the arbitrary density and…
We explore the regulation of star formation in star-forming galaxies through a suite of high-resolution isolated galaxy simulations. We use the SPH code GASOLINE, including photoelectric heating and metal cooling, which produces a…
Star complexes are the largest globular regions of star formation in galaxies. If there is a spiral density wave, nuclear ring, tidal arm, or other well-defined stellar structure, then gravitational instabilities in the gaseous component…
We estimate the star formation efficiency per gravitational free fall time, $\epsilon_{\rm ff}$, from observations of nearby galaxies with resolution matched to the typical size of a Giant Molecular Cloud. This quantity, $\epsilon_{\rm…
We have constructed a family of simple models for spiral galaxy evolution to allow us to investigate observational trends in star formation history with galaxy parameters. The models are used to generate broad band colours from which ages…
We report the first results of a detailed study of the star formation law in a sample of 32 nearby spiral galaxies with well-measured rotation curves, HI and H$_2$ (as traced by CO) surface density profiles, and new \Ha CCD photometry. Our…
Our current understanding of the physical processes of star formation is reviewed, with emphasis on processes occurring in molecular clouds like those observed nearby. The dense cores of these clouds are predicted to undergo gravitational…
We investigate the consequences of applying different star formation laws in the galaxy formation model GALFORM. Three broad star formation laws are implemented: the empirical relations of Kennicutt and Schmidt and Blitz & Rosolowsky and…