Related papers: Low-mass Star Formation: Observations
Although fundamental for astrophysics, the processes that produce massive stars are not well understood. Large distances, high extinction, and short timescales of critical evolutionary phases make observations of these processes…
The chemical abundances in the atmosphere of a star provide unique information about the gas from which that star formed, and, modulo processes that are not important for the vast majority of stars, such as mass transfer in close binary…
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…
The discovery of large numbers of young low-mass stars and brown dwarfs over the last decade has made it possible to investigate star formation and early evolution in a previously unexplored mass regime. In this review, we begin by…
Magnetic fields are important at every scale in the star formation process: from the dynamics of the ISM in galaxies, to the collapse of turbulent molecular clouds to form stars and in the fragmentation of individual star forming cores. The…
We examine the star formation history and stellar feedback effects of dwarf galaxies under the influence of extragalactic ultraviolet radiation. We consider the dynamical evolution of gas in dwarf galaxies using a one-dimensional,…
In this chapter we review recent advances in understanding the roles that magnetic fields play throughout the star formation process, gained through observations and simulations of molecular clouds, the dense, star-forming phase of the…
We investigate the physical and chemical conditions necessary for low-mass star formation in extragalactic environments by calculating various characteristic timescales associated with star formation for a range of initial conditions. The…
In this chapter I review theoretical models for the formation of very massive stars. After a brief overview of some relevant observations, I spend the bulk of the chapter describing two possible routes to the formation of very massive…
The interplay between the ISM and the massive stars formed in clusters and, more generally, in recent events of star formation is reviewed via the global effects each has on the other. The pre-existing environment affects the properties of…
Quantification of the Galaxy's star formation history involves both the duration and the rate of formation, with these parameters being known with different precision for different populations. The early rate of star formation is knowable…
High-mass stars form within star clusters from dense, molecular regions, but is the process of cluster formation slow and hydrostatic or quick and dynamic? We link the physical properties of high-mass star-forming regions with their…
In spite of significant recent and ongoing research efforts, most of the early evolution and long-term fate of young massive star clusters remain clouded in uncertainties. Here, I discuss our understanding of the initial conditions of star…
The combination of huge databases of galaxy spectra and advances in evolutionary synthesis models in the past few years has renewed interest in an old question: How to estimate the star formation history of a galaxy out of its integrated…
This paper addresses the questions of what we have learned about how and when dense star clusters form, and what studies of star clusters have revealed about galaxy formation and evolution. One important observation is that globular…
We perform calculations of pre-main sequence evolution of stars from 1 to $85 M_{\odot}$ with growing accretion rates $\dot{M}$. The values of $\dot{M}$ are taken equal to a constant fraction $\tilde{f}$ of the rates of the mass outflows…
ALMA will revolutionize the study of star formation by providing a combination of angular resolution and sensitivity that far exceeds that of present instruments. I will focus on studies of relatively isolated cores that are forming…
The observed distribution of IMF shapes can be understood as statistical sampling from a universal IMF and variations that result from stellar-dynamical processes. However, young star clusters appear to have an IMF biased towards low-mass…
How and when did the first generation of stars form at the end of the cosmic dark ages? Quite generically, within variants of the cold dark matter model of cosmological structure formation, the first sources of light are expected to form in…
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…