Related papers: Molecular Cloud Fragmentation and Core Collapse
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…
All stars are born in molecular clouds, and most in giant molecular clouds (GMCs), which thus set the star formation activity of galaxies. We first review their observed properties, including measures of mass surface density, Sigma, and…
A non-ideal MHD collapse calculation employing the axisymmetric thin-disk approximation is used to resolve cloud core collapse down to the scales of the second (stellar) core. Rotation and a magnetic braking torque are included in the…
In the context of star formation through fragmentation of an extremely metal-deficient protogalactic cloud, the gravitational collapse of filamentary gas clouds is explored with 1D numerical hydrodynamics coupled with non-equilibrium…
Star formation is thought to be triggered by gravitational collapse of the dense cores of molecular clouds. Angular momentum conservation during the collapse results in the progressive increase of the centrifugal force, which eventually…
Fragmentation of filaments into dense cores is thought to be an important step in forming stars. The bar-mode instability of spherically collapsing cores found in previous linear analysis invokes a possibility of re-fragmentation of the…
How important is the magnetic (B-) field when compared to gravity and turbulence in the star-formation process? Does its importance depend on scale and location? We summarize submm dust polarization observations towards the large…
At the earliest evolutionary stages, massive star-forming regions are deeply embedded within their natal cores and not observable at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. Interferometric high-spatial resolution mm dust continuum…
Simulations from the scales of isolated galaxies to clouds have been instrumental in informing us about molecular cloud formation and evolution. Simulations are able to investigate the roles of gravity, feedback, turbulence, heating and…
Galaxies comprise intricate networks of interdependent processes which together govern their evolution. Central among these are the multiplicity of feedback channels, which remain incompletely understood. One outstanding problem is the…
The magnetic fields affect collapse of molecular cloud cores. Here, we consider a collapsing core with an axial magnetic field and investigate its effect on infall of matter and formation of accretion disk. For this purpose, the equations…
We study the non-axisymmetric evolution of magnetized clouds, using a 2D MHD code based on the physically motivated thin-disk approximation. We found that such clouds become unstable to non-axisymmetric perturbations after the supercritical…
We review the progress made in understanding molecular cloud formation and evolution toward star formation since the first Crete conference in 1990. It now seems clear that molecular clouds in the Galaxy at least form from compressed HI…
We investigate numerically and semi-analytically the collapse of low-mass, rotating prestellar cores. Initially, the cores are in approximate equilibrium with low rotation (the initial ratio of thermal to gravitational energy is $\alpha_0…
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…
The formation of protostars and their disks has been understood as the result of the gravitational collapse phase of an accumulation of dense gas that determines the mass reservoir of the star-disk system. Against this background, the…
Much emission from star forming regions is from shock-excited gas. Shocks in molecular clouds are still not fully understood, as magnetic fields, dust and chemistry all play significant roles. I review the history, physics and current work…
We report results from radiation hydrodynamical simulations of the collapse of molecular cloud cores to form protostars. The calculations follow the formation and evolution of the first hydrostatic core/disc, the collapse to form a stellar…
Magnetic fields are ubiquitously observed in the interstellar medium (ISM) of present-day star-forming galaxies with dynamically relevant energy densities. Using three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the supernova (SN)…
(Abridged) Aims & Methods. A two-dimensional, semi-analytical model is presented that follows, for the first time, the chemical evolution from a collapsing molecular cloud (a pre-stellar core) to a protostar and circumstellar disk. The…