Related papers: Cloud and Star Formation in Spiral Arms
Molecular clouds, the birthplaces of stars in galaxies, form dynamically from the diffuse atomic gas of the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is also threaded by magnetic fields which have a large impact on its dynamics. In particular,…
Star formation is one of the least understood processes in cosmic evolution. It is difficult to formulate a general theory for star formation in part because of the wide range of physical processes involved. The interstellar gas out of…
I review recent results derived from numerical simulations of the turbulent interstellar medium (ISM), in particular concerning the nature and formation of turbulent clouds, methods for comparing the structure in simulations and…
Most of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in M 33 are connected with spiral-like gaseous arms (filaments) with the exception of the inner 2 kpc region where the link between the arms and GMCs disappears (see Tosaki et al. 2011). We check…
Precipitation is potentially a mechanism through which the circumgalactic medium (CGM) can regulate a galaxy's star formation. Here we present idealized simulations of isolated Milky Way-like galaxies intended to examine the ability of…
We use a series of high-resolution N-body simulations of a `Milky-Way' halo, coupled to semi-analytic techniques, to study the formation of our own Galaxy and of its stellar halo. Our model Milky Way galaxy is a relatively young system…
(ABBREVIATED) Understanding the formation of stars in galaxies is central to much of modern astrophysics. In this review the relation between interstellar turbulence and star formation is discussed. Supersonic turbulence can provide support…
We systematically investigate how cloud-cloud collisions influence star formation, emphasizing the roles of collision velocity, magnetic field orientation, and radiative feedback. Using the first cloud-cloud collision simulations that model…
We extend recent numerical results (Dobbs et. al. 2006) on molecular cloud formation in spiral galaxies by including a multi-phase medium. The addition of a hot phase of gas enhances the structure in the cold gas, and significantly…
We discuss the role of turbulence in cloud and star formation, as observed in numerical simulations of the interstellar medium. Turbulent compression at the interfaces of colliding gas streams is responsible for the formation of…
We present a steady-state analytical model for pressure-regulated formation of molecular clouds (MC) and stars (SF) in gaseous galactic disks and apply it to the Milky Way (MW). MC formation depends on midplane interstellar pressure…
Understanding the effect spiral structure has on star formation properties of galaxies is important to completing our picture of spiral structure evolution. Previous studies have investigated connections between spiral arm properties with…
Star formation is a fundamental process for galactic evolution. One issue over the last several decades has been determining whether star formation is induced by external triggers or is self-regulated in a closed system. The role of an…
Spiral arms are some of the most spectacular features in disc galaxies, and also present in our own Milky Way. It has been argued that star formation should proceed more efficiently in spiral arms as a result of gas compression. Yet,…
The inner few hundred parsecs of the Milky Way harbours gas densities, pressures, velocity dispersions, an interstellar radiation field and a cosmic ray ionisation rate orders of magnitude higher than the disc; akin to the environment found…
We employ the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE-2) physics model to study how the properties of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) evolve during galaxy mergers. We conduct a pixel-by-pixel analysis of molecular gas properties in both the…
We have examined the ratio between the integrated luminosity of massive young stellar objects detected by the Red MSX Source (RMS) survey and the mass of molecular clouds in the Galactic Ring Survey region, as a function of Galactocentric…
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…
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…
Massive stars form in clusters within self-gravitating molecular clouds. The size scale of these clusters is sufficiently large that non-thermal, or turbulent, motions of the gas must be taken into account when considering their formation.…