Related papers: Probing the evolution of molecular cloud structure…
Observations suggest that star formation occurs in only one or two crossing times for a range of scales spanning a factor of 1000. These observations include (1) measurements of embedded cluster ages in comparison with the cloud core…
Knowledge of the three-dimensional structure of Galactic molecular clouds is important for understanding how clouds are affected by processes such as turbulence and magnetic fields and how this structure effects star formation within them.…
We analyze surveys of molecular cloud structures defined by tracers ranging from CO $J = 1-0$ through $^{13}$CO $J = 1-0$ to dust emission together with NH$_3$ data. The mean value of the virial parameter and the fraction of mass in bound…
Observations of both star-forming regions and young, gas-free stellar associations indicate that most nearby molecular clouds form stars only over a short time span before dispersal; large-scale flows in the diffuse interstellar medium have…
Observations indicate that massive stars form in regions of very high surface density, ~1 g cm^-2. Clusters containing massive stars and globular clusters have a comparable column density. The total pressure in clouds of such a column…
Filamentary flows toward the centre of molecular clouds have been recognized as a crucial process in the formation and evolution of stellar clusters. In this paper, we present a comprehensive observational study that investigates the gas…
We find that clouds of optically-thin, pressure-confined gas are prone to fragmentation as they cool below $\sim10^6$ K. This fragmentation follows the lengthscale $\sim{c}_{\text{s}}\,t_{\text{cool}}$, ultimately reaching very small scales…
We present the detection analysis of a diffuse molecular cloud at z$_{abs}$=2.4636 towards the quasar SDSS J1513+0352(z$_{em}\,\simeq$ 2.68) observed with the X-shooter spectrograph(VLT). We measure very high column densities of atomic and…
Using self-gravitational hydrodynamical numerical simulations, we investigated the evolution of high-density turbulent molecular clouds swept by a colliding flow. The interaction of shock waves due to turbulence produces networks of thin…
We present the results of a series of numerical simulations of compressible, self-gravitating hydrodynamic turbulence of cluster-forming clumps in molecular clouds. We examine the role that turbulence has in the formation of gravitationally…
We present a numerical study of the evolution of molecular clouds, from their formation by converging flows in the warm ISM, to their destruction by the ionizing feedback of the massive stars they form. We improve with respect to our…
A large number (~10,000) of uniform stainless steel balls comprising less than one layer coverage on a vertically shaken plate provides a rich system for the study of excited granular media. Viewed from above, the horizontal motion in the…
{It is well established that the atomic interstellar hydrogen is filling the galaxies and constitutes the building blocks of molecular clouds.} {To understand the formation and the evolution of molecular clouds, it is necessary to…
We generalize the classic Bonnor-Ebert stability analysis of pressure-truncated, self-gravitating gas spheres, to include clouds with arbitrary equations of state. A virial-theorem analysis is also used to incorporate mean magnetic fields…
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…
We explore whether observed molecular clouds could include a substantial population of unbound clouds. Using simulations which include only turbulence and gravity, we are able to match observed relations and naturally reproduce the observed…
A strong correlation between atmospheric pressure and molecular gas mass is found in central cluster galaxies and early-type galaxies. This trend and a similar trend with atmospheric gas density would naturally arise if the molecular clouds…
In order to investigate the origin of the interstellar turbulence, detailed observations in the CO J=1--0 and 3--2 lines have been carried out in an interacting region of a molecular cloud with an HII region. As a result, several 1,000 to…
Here we report observations of the two lowest inversion transitions of ammonia with the 70-m Tidbinbilla radio telescope. They were conducted to determine the kinetic temperatures in the dense clumps of the G333 giant molecular cloud…
We use a suite of 3D simulations of star-forming molecular clouds, with and without stellar feedback, magnetic fields, and driven turbulence, to study the compression and expansion rates of the gas as functions of density. We show that,…