Related papers: The Protostellar Luminosity Function
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a fundamental property of star formation, offering key insight into the physics driving the process as well as informing our understanding of stellar populations, their by-products, and their…
The current status of both the observational evidence and the theory of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is reviewed, with particular attention to the two basic, apparently universal features shown by all observations of nearby…
The pre-main-sequence evolution of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs is studied numerically starting from the formation of a protostellar/proto-brown dwarf seed and taking into account the mass accretion onto the central object during the…
We have undertaken a systematic study of pre-main sequence (PMS) stars spanning a wide range of masses (0.5 - 4 Msolar), metallicities (0.1 - 1 Zsolar) and ages (0.5 - 30 Myr). We have used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to identify and…
The cosmological lithium problem, that is, the discrepancy between the lithium abundance predicted by the Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the one observed for the stars of the 'Spite plateau', is one of the long standing problems of modern…
Motivated by the long-standing "luminosity problem" in low-mass star formation whereby protostars are underluminous compared to theoretical expectations, we identify 230 protostars in 18 molecular clouds observed by two Spitzer Space…
We analyse protostellar mass accretion rates from numerical models of star formation based on gravoturbulent fragmentation, considering a large number of different environments. To within one order of magnitude, the mass accretion rate is…
The initial and present-day mass functions (ICMF and PDMF, respectively) of the Galactic globular clusters (GCs) are constructed based on their observed luminosities, the stellar evolution and dynamical mass-loss processes, and the…
In this paper we posit that galaxy luminosity functions (LFs) come in two fundamentally different types depending on whether the luminosity traces galaxy stellar mass or its current star formation rate (SFR). Mass function types reflect the…
Spherical hydrodynamic models with a polytropic equation of state (EoS) for forming protostars are revisited in order to investigate the so-called luminosity conundrum highlighted by observations. For a molecular cloud (MC) core with such…
The core mass function (CMF) of prestellar cores is essential for understanding the initial conditions of star and cluster formation. However, the universality of the CMF and its relationship to the initial mass function (IMF) remain…
We present a parameter-less approach to predict the shape of the infrared (IR) luminosity function (LF) at redshifts z < 2. It requires no tuning and relies on only three observables: (1) the redshift evolution of the stellar mass function…
Theoretical prediction of surface stellar abundances of light elements -- lithium, beryllium, and boron -- represents one of the most interesting open problems in astrophysics. As well known, several measurements of 7-Li abundances in…
The formation of a star is a dynamic process fed by the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud core. Theoretical models and observations suggest that the majority of this infalling material settles into a protoplanetary disk before…
The measured star-formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies comprise an important constraint on galaxy evolution and also on their cosmological boundary conditions. Any available tracer of the SFR depends on the shape of the mass-distribution of…
We report the rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity function of $g$-dropout galaxies in 177 protocluster candidates (PC UVLF) at $z\sim4$ selected in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. Comparing with the UVLF of field galaxies at…
An evolution of luminosity of galaxies in emission lines or wavelength ranges in which they are sensitive to the star formation process is caused by burning out of the most massive O-class stars during a few million years after a starburst.…
The majority of the ultimate main-sequence mass of a star is assembled in the protostellar phase, where a forming star is embedded in an infalling envelope and encircled by a protoplanetary disk. Studying mass accretion in protostars is…
Identifying the processes that determine strength, duration and variability of protostellar mass growth is a fundamental ingredient of any theory of star formation. I discuss protostellar mass accretion rates dM/dt from numerical models…
The stellar initial-mass function (IMF) represents a fundamental quantity in astrophysics and cosmology, describing the mass distribution of stars from low to very-high masses. It is intimately linked to a wide variety of topics, including…