Related papers: Formation of Massive Molecular Cloud Cores by Clou…
In giant molecular clouds (GMCs), shocks driven by converging turbulent flows create high-density, strongly-magnetized regions that are locally sheetlike. In previous work, we showed that within these layers, dense filaments and embedded…
We present an investigation of massive star formation that results from the gravitational collapse of massive, magnetized molecular cloud cores. We investigate this by means of highly resolved, numerical simulations of initial magnetized…
Young massive clusters (YMCs) are recently formed astronomical objects with unusually high star formation rates. We propose the collision of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) as a likely formation mechanism of YMCs, consistent with the YMC…
Molecular clouds (MCs) are highly structured and ``turbulent''. Colliding gas streams of atomic hydrogen have been suggested as a possible source of MCs, imprinting the filamentary structure as a consequence of dynamical and thermal…
I describe the scenario of molecular cloud (MC) evolution that has emerged over the past decade or so. MCs can start out as cold atomic clouds formed by compressive motions in the warm neutral medium (WNM) of galaxies. Such motions can be…
In this review, I present the case for how massive stars may form through stellar collisions. This mechanism requires very high stellar densities, up to 4 orders of magnitude higher than are observed in the cores of dense young clusters. In…
To understand the formation of a magnetically dominated molecular cloud out of an atomic cloud, we follow the dynamical evolution of the cloud with a time-dependent axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic code. A thermally stable warm atomic cloud…
We present compelling observational evidence of G133.50+9.01 being a bona fide cloud-cloud collision candidate with signatures of induced filament, core, and cluster formation. The CO molecular line observations reveal that the G133.50+9.01…
Similar to their low-mass counterparts, massive stars likely form via the collapse of pre-stellar molecular cores. Recent observations suggest that most massive cores are subvirial (i.e., not supported by turbulence) and therefore are…
Observational evidence from local star-forming regions mandates that star formation occurs shortly after, or even during, molecular cloud formation. Models of the formation of molecular clouds in large-scale converging flows have identified…
Cloud-cloud collisions are expected to trigger star formation by compressing gas into dense, gravitationally unstable regions. However, the role of magnetic fields in this process is unclear. We use SPH to model head-on collisions between…
Magnetic fields are often invoked as playing a primary role in star formation and in the formation of high-mass stars. We investigate the effect of magnetic fields on the formation of high-mass cores using the 3-dimensional smoothed…
We present results from our numerical simulations of collapsing massive molecular cloud cores. These numerical calculations show that massive stars assemble quickly with mass accretion rates exceeding 10^-3 Msol/yr and confirm that the mass…
We report the first evidence for high-mass star formation triggered by collisions of molecular clouds in M33. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, we spatially resolved filamentary structures of giant molecular cloud 37…
The colliding flows (CF) model is a well-supported mechanism for generating molecular clouds. However, to-date most CF simulations have focused on the formation of clouds in the normal-shock layer between head-on colliding flows. We…
{It has recently been proposed that giant molecular complexes form at the sites where streams of diffuse warm atomic gas collide at transonic velocities.} {We study the global statistics of molecular clouds formed by large scale colliding…
Collisions between giant molecular clouds (GMCs) have been proposed as a mechanism to trigger massive star and star cluster formation. To investigate the astrochemical signatures of such collisions, we carry out 3D magnetohydrodynamics…
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…
Observations show that galaxies and their interstellar media are pervaded by strong magnetic fields with energies in the diffuse component being at least comparable to the thermal and even as large or larger than the turbulent energy. Such…
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…