Related papers: Two-Stage Fragmentation for Cluster Formation: Ana…
Molecular clouds are the principle stellar nurseries of our universe, keeping them in the focus of both observational and theoretical studies. From observations, some of the key properties of molecular clouds are well known but many…
Many questions in physical cosmology regarding the thermal history of the intergalactic medium, chemical enrichment, reionization, etc. are thought to be intimately related to the nature and evolution of pregalactic structure. In particular…
We study the formation of giant dense cloud complexes and of stars within them by means of SPH numerical simulations of the mildly supersonic collision of gas streams (``inflows'') in the warm neutral medium (WNM). The resulting…
A viable solution to the origin of close binary systems, unaccounted for in recent theories, is presented. Fragmentation, occurring at the end of the secondary collapse phase (during which molecular hydrogen is dissociating), can form…
Stars are thought to form predominantly within filamentary molecular clouds. Recent studies have suggested that active star formation, including the formation of stellar clusters and massive stars, occurs within so-called "hub" structures,…
The remarkably filamentary spatial distribution of young stars in the Taurus molecular cloud has significant implications for understanding low-mass star formation in relatively quiescent conditions. The large scale and regular spacing of…
Stars form as molecular clouds fragment into networks of dense cores, filaments, and subclusters. The characteristic spacing of these cores is a key observable imprint of fragmentation physics and is commonly measured using…
Some scenarios for planetesimal formation go through a phase of collapse of gravitationally bound clouds of mm-cm-sized pebbles. Such clouds can form for example through the streaming instability in protoplanetary disks. We model the…
The study of the internal structure of star clusters provides important clues concerning their formation mechanism and dynamical evolution. There are both observational and numerical evidences indicating that open clusters evolve from an…
Stars form within molecular clouds but our understanding of this fundamental process remains hampered by the complexity of the physics that drives their evolution. We review our observational and theoretical knowledge of molecular clouds…
More and more observations indicate that young star clusters could retain imprints of their formation process. In particular, the degree of substructuring and rotation are possibly the direct result of the collapse of the parent molecular…
The structure formation of the dense interstellar material and the fragmentation of clumps into cores is a fundamental step to understand how stars and stellar clusters form. We aim to establish a statistical view of clump fragmentation at…
Understanding the formation and evolution of young star clusters requires quantitative statistical measures of their structure. We investigate the structures of observed and modelled star-forming clusters. By considering the different…
Two scenarios have been proposed for evolution of star forming cores: gravitational fragmentation of larger structures and coalescence of smaller entities which are formed from some instabilities. Here, we turn our attention to the latter…
The mass assembly in star forming regions arises from the hierarchical structure in molecular clouds in tandem with fragmentation at different scales. In this paper, we present a study of the fragmentation of massive clumps covering a range…
Many questions in physical cosmology regarding the thermal history of the intergalactic medium, chemical enrichment, reionization, etc. are thought to be intimately related to the nature and evolution of pregalactic structure. In particular…
The first stars are known to form in primordial gas, either in minihalos with about $10^6$~M$_\odot$ or so-called atomic cooling halos of about $10^8$~M$_\odot$. Simulations have shown that gravitational collapse and disk formation in…
Turbulent fragmentation determines where and when protostellar cores form, and how they contract and grow in mass from the surrounding cloud material. Molecular cloud regions without turbulent driving sources, or where turbulence is driven…
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…
Stars form predominantly in clusters inside dense clumps of turbulent, magnetized molecular clouds. The typical size and mass of the cluster-forming clumps are \sim 1 pc and \sim 10^2 - 10^3 M_\odot, respectively. Here, we discuss some…