Related papers: The dangers of being trigger--happy
We present the results of N-body simulations in which we take the masses, positions and velocities of sink particles from five pairs of hydrodynamical simulations of star formation by Dale et al. (2012, 2013) and evolve them for a further…
We investigate the effects of magnetic fields and radiative protostellar feedback on the star formation process using self-gravitating radiation magnetohydrodynamical calculations. We present results from a series of calculations of the…
Star formation occurs within dusty molecular clouds that are then disrupted by stellar feedback. However, the timing and physical mechanisms that govern the transition from deeply embedded to exposed stars remain uncertain. Using the…
Cloud-cloud collisions (CCCs) are expected to compress gas and trigger star formation. However, it is not well understood how the collisions and the induced star formation affect galactic-scale properties. By developing an on-the-fly…
We study the large-scale triggering of star formation in galaxies. We find that the largest mass-scale not stabilized by rotation, a well defined quantity in a rotating system and with clear dynamical meaning, strongly correlates with the…
We present a method of determining the likely triggering mechanisms for luminous, nearby starbursts based on their optical asymmetry and (B-V) color -- what we term as indices of `physical morphology.' By comparing the starbursts' locations…
There is much debate on how high-mass star formation varies with environment, and whether the sparsest star-forming environments are capable of forming massive stars. To address this issue, we have observed eight apparently isolated OB…
The star formation histories (SFHs) of dwarf galaxies are thought to be \emph{bursty}, with large -- order of magnitude -- changes in the star formation rate on timescales similar to O-star lifetimes. As a result, the standard…
Recent observations indicate that galactic outflows are ubiquitous in high redshift galaxies, including normal star forming galaxies, quasar hosts, and dusty star forming galaxies (DSFGs). However, the impact of outflows on the evolution of…
Numerous stars exhibit surprisingly large variations in their refractory element abundances, often interpreted as signatures of planetary ingestion events. In this study, we propose that differences in the dust-to-gas ratio near stars…
The understanding and modeling of the structure and evolution of stars is based on statistical physics as well as on hydrodynamics. Today, a precise identification and proper description of the physical processes at work in stellar…
We explore a model in which efficient star formation in galaxies is triggered by merging satellites. We show that the merger/interaction rates predicted by hierarchical galaxy formation models depend strongly on galaxy mass. If a merger of…
Recent progress in the understanding of star formation is summarized. A consistent picture is emerging where molecular clouds form with turbulent velocity fields and clumpy substructure, imprinted already during their formation. The clouds…
Galaxy formation models are now able to reproduce observed relations such as the relation between galaxies' star formation rates (SFRs) and stellar masses ($M_*$) and the stellar mass--halo mass relation. We demonstrate that comparisons of…
The emergence of a large-scale stellar bar is one of the most striking features in disc galaxies. By means of state-of-the-art cosmological zoom-in simulations, we study the formation and evolution of bars in Milky Way-like galaxies in a…
We study the links between star formation history and structure for a large mass-selected galaxy sample at 0.05 < z_phot < 0.30. The galaxies inhabit a very broad range of environments, from cluster cores to the field. Using HST images, we…
It is well known that the energy input from massive stars dominates the thermal and mechanical heating of typical regions in the interstellar medium of galaxies. These effects are amplified tremendously in the immediate environment of young…
Feedback effects due to massive stars and supernovae in the first objects are shown to strongly regulate both galaxy formation/evolution and the reionization process. Here we review the most important ones in some detail. We discuss how…
It is often assumed that galaxies cannot generate large-scale coherent star- forming activity without some organizing agent, such as spiral density waves, bars, large-scale instabilities, or external perturbations due to encounters with…
Observations of the nearby large galaxies that can be examined in particularly close detail suggest that many have small stellar luminosity fractions in bulges and haloes. Simulations of galaxy formation tend to produce considerably larger…