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Recent studies of the nearest star-forming clouds of the Galaxy at submillimeter wavelengths with the Herschel Space Observatory have provided us with unprecedented images of the initial and boundary conditions of the star formation…
The chemical composition of a protoplanetary disk is determined not only by in situ chemical processes during the disk phase, but also by the history of the gas and dust before it accreted from the natal envelope. In order to understand the…
We present a novel framework to self-consistently model the effects of radiation fields, dust physics and molecular chemistry (H$_2$) in the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies. The model combines a state-of-the-art radiation…
Star-forming regions show a rich and varied chemistry, including the presence of complex organic molecules - both in the cold gas distributed on large scales, and in the hot regions close to young stars where protoplanetary disks arise.…
We review the progress that has been made in observing and analyzing molecular cloud structure in recent years. Structures are self-similar over a wide range of scales with similar power law indices independent of the star forming nature of…
In this paper, the first of a series of two devoted to modelling the spectra of galaxies of different morphological type in presence of dust, we present our description of the dust both in the diffuse ISM and the molecular clouds. Our model…
We provide a brief overview of recent advances and outstanding issues in simulations of interstellar turbulence, including isothermal models for interior structure of molecular clouds and larger-scale multiphase models designed to simulate…
Models of astrophysical dust are key to understand several physical processes, from the role of dust grains as cooling agents in the ISM to their evolution in dense circumstellar disks, explaining the occurrence of planetary systems around…
Understanding the chemical evolution of young (high-mass) star-forming regions is a central topic in star formation research. Chemistry is employed as a unique tool 1) to investigate the underlying physical processes and 2) to characterize…
Laboratory experiments play a key role in deciphering the chemistry of the interstellar medium (ISM) and the role that product complex organic molecules (COMs) may play in the origins of life. However, to date, most studies in experimental…
This paper reviews our current understanding of interstellar dust models, what constitutes a viable dust model, what observational constraints are essential for deriving such model, and the current viable dust models. Interstellar dust…
In a recent paper, Elmegreen (2000) has made a cogent case, from an observational point of view, that the lifetimes of molecular clouds are comparable to their dynamical timescales. If so, this has important implications for the mechanisms…
I review recent results from numerical simulations on the structure and dynamics of the ISM, and attempt to put together a coherent dynamical scenario. In particular, I discuss results on 1) the spatial distribution of the gas components,…
The physical conditions in a collapsing cloud can be traced by observations of molecular lines. To correctly interpret these observations the abundance distributions of the observed species need to be derived. The chemistry in a collapsing…
Molecules and dust are formed in and around the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and supernovae (SNe), and are ejected into the interstellar medium (ISM) through the stellar wind. The dust and gas contain elements newly synthesised in…
We present a model of the interaction of interstellar dust grains with a stellar environment, that predicts the distribution of interstellar dust grains in the size range between $0.1 {\rm \mu m}$ and $1 {\rm \mu m}$ around a star for the…
Upcoming facilities such as the Herschel Space Observatory or ALMA will deliver a wealth of molecular line observations of young stellar objects (YSOs). Based on line fluxes, chemical abundances can then be estimated by radiative transfer…
The cycling of material from the interstellar medium (ISM) into stars and the return of stellar ejecta into the ISM is the engine that drives the "galactic ecology" in normal spirals, a cornerstone in the formation and evolution of galaxies…
We discuss results from numerical simulations of star cluster formation in the turbulent interstellar medium (ISM). The thermodynamic behavior of the star-forming gas plays a crucial role in fragmentation and determines the stellar mass…
The accumulation, compression and cooling of the ambient interstellar medium (ISM) in large-scale flows powered by OB cluster feedback can drive the production of dense molecular clouds. We review the current state of the field, with a…