Related papers: A law for star formation in galaxies
We revisit the stability of very massive nonrotating main-sequence stars at solar metallicity, with the goal of understanding whether radial pulsations set a physical upper limit to stellar mass. Models of up to 938 solar masses are…
Modern extragalactic molecular gas surveys now reach the scales of star-forming giant molecular clouds (GMCs, 20-50 pc). Systematic variations in GMC properties with galaxy environment imply that clouds are not universally self-gravitating…
Galaxy disk formation must incorporate the multiphase nature of the interstellar medium. The resulting two-phase structure is generated and maintained by gravitational instability and supernova energy input, which yield a source of…
This paper discusses how cosmic gas accretion controls star formation, and summarizes the physical properties expected for the cosmic gas accreted by galaxies. The paper also collects observational evidence for gas accretion sustaining star…
We investigate the contribution of star formation to the growth of stellar mass in galaxies over the redshift range 0.5 < z < 1.1 by studying the redshift evolution of the specific star formation rate (SSFR), defined as the star formation…
The connection between halo gas acquisition through the circumgalactic medium (CGM) and galaxy star formation has long been studied. In this series of two papers, we put this interplay within the context of the galaxy environment on large…
Using our recently improved understanding of star cluster physics, we are now within reach of answering a number of fundamental questions in contemporary astrophysics. Star cluster physics has immediate bearing on questions ranging from the…
Star formation is self-regulated by its feedback that drives turbulence and heats the gas. In equilibrium, the star formation rate (SFR) should be directly related to the total (thermal plus turbulent) midplane pressure and hence the total…
Two competing models, gravitational instability-driven transport and stellar feedback, have been proposed to interpret the high velocity dispersions observed in high-redshift galaxies. We study the major mechanisms to drive the turbulence…
Conditions for the fragmentation of expanding shells due to gravitational instability are discussed. The self-similar analytical solution is compared with the results of 3-dimensional computer simulations for the expansion into homogeneous…
We review recent work that investigates the formation of stellar clusters, ranging in scale from globular clusters through open clusters to the small scale aggregates of stars observed in T associations. In all cases, recent advances in…
We introduce a new model for the structure and evolution of the gas in galactic discs. In the model the gas is in vertical pressure and energy balance. Star formation feedback injects energy and momentum, and non-axisymmetric torques…
Massive stars influence their surroundings through radiation, winds, and supernova explosions far out of proportion to their small numbers. However, the physical processes that initiate and govern the birth of massive stars remain poorly…
Observations of the high redshift Universe, interpreted in the context of a new generation of computer simulated model Universes, are providing new insights into the processes by which galaxies and quasars form and evolve, as well as the…
The interstellar medium of galaxies is composed of multiple phases, including molecular, atomic, and ionized gas, as well as dust. Stars are formed within this medium from cold molecular gas clouds, which collapse due to their gravitational…
The physical conditions in molecular clouds control the nature and rate of star formation, with consequences for planet formation and galaxy evolution. The focus of this review is on the conditions that characterize regions of star…
A large fraction of the gas in the Galaxy is cold, dense, and molecular. If all this gas collapsed under the influence of gravity and formed stars in a local free-fall time, the star formation rate in the Galaxy would exceed that observed…
Recent observations have demonstrated a significant growth in the integrated stellar mass of the red sequence since z=1, dominated by a steadily increasing number of galaxies with stellar masses M* < 10^11 M_sun. In this paper, we use the…
We present a relationship between the black hole mass, stellar mass, and star formation rate of a diverse group of 91 galaxies with dynamically-measured black hole masses. For our sample of galaxies with a variety of morphologies and other…
In this paper, I investigate the processes that regulate the rate of star formation in regions of galaxies where the neutral interstellar medium is predominantly composed of non-star-forming HI. In such regions, found today predominantly in…