Related papers: The Evolution of Cloud Cores and the Formation of …
Long wavelength sonic oscillations are observed or inferred in many of the small, dark molecular clouds, the starless cores, that are the precursors to protostars. The oscillations provide significant internal energy and the time scale for…
We discuss the lifetimes and evolution of clumps and cores formed as turbulent density fluctuations in nearly isothermal molecular clouds. In the non-magnetic case, clumps are unlikely to reach a hydrostatic state, and instead are expected…
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…
We test the hypothesis that the starless cores may be gravitationally bound clouds supported largely by thermal pressure by comparing observed molecular line spectra to theoretical spectra produced by a simulation that includes…
The dense molecular cloud cores that form stars, like other self-gravitating objects, undergo bulk oscillations. Just at the point of gravitational instability, their fundamental oscillation mode has zero frequency. We study, using…
Dense gas in molecular clouds is an important signature of ongoing and future star formation. We identify and track dense cores in the STARFORGE simulations, following the core evolution from birth through dispersal by stellar feedback for…
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…
If the split, asymmetric molecular spectral line profiles that are seen in many starless cores are interpreted as indicative of global collapse or expansion of the core then one possible implication is that most starless cores have short…
The mass distributions of dense cores in star-forming regions are measured to have a shape similar to the initial mass function of stars. This has been generally interpreted to mean that the constituent cores will form individual stars or…
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…
We review the properties of low mass dense molecular cloud cores, including starless, prestellar, and Class 0 protostellar cores, as derived from observations. In particular we discuss them in the context of the current debate surrounding…
We discuss the lifetimes and evolution of dense cores formed as turbulent density fluctuations in magnetized, isothermal molecular clouds. We consider numerical simulations in which we measure the cores' magnetic criticality and Jeans…
Massive stars are linked with diverse astronomical processes and objects including star formation, supernovae and their remnants, cosmic rays, interstellar media, and galaxy evolution. Understanding their properties is of primary importance…
We analyze an ensemble of simulated prestellar cores to facilitate interpretation of structure, kinematics, and lifetime of observed cores. While our theory predicts a "characteristic" density for star formation, it also predicts that the…
We discuss problems with some observational estimates indicating long protostellar core lifetimes and large stellar age spreads in molecular clouds. We also point out some additional observational constraints which suggest that protostellar…
We summarize the current status of the turbulent model of star formation in turbulent molecular clouds. In this model, clouds, clumps and cores form a hierarchy of nested density fluctuations caused by the turbulence, and either collapse or…
Improving our understanding of the initial conditions and earliest stages of star formation is crucial to gain insight into the origin of stellar masses, multiple systems, and protoplanetary disks. We review the properties of low-mass dense…
The turbulent motion within molecular clouds is a key factor controlling star formation. Turbulence supports molecular cloud cores from evolving to gravitational collapse and hence sets a lower bound on the size of molecular cloud cores in…
Evolved stars dominate galactic spectra, enrich the galactic medium, expand to change their planetary systems, eject winds of a complex nature, produce spectacular nebulae and illuminate them, and transfer material between binary…
We calculate the evolution of molecular line profiles of HCO$^+$ and C$^{18}$O toward a dense core thatis forming inside a magnetized turbulent molecular cloud. Features of the profiles can be affected more significantly by coupled velocity…