Related papers: GMC Evolution in a Barred Spiral Galaxy with Star …
We investigate the formation and evolution of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in a Milky-Way-like disk galaxy with a flat rotation curve. We perform a series of 3D adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) numerical simulations that follow both the…
We use two hydrodynamical simulations (with and without photoionising feedback) of the self-consistent evolution of molecular clouds (MCs) undergoing global hierarchical collapse (GHC), to study the effect of the feedback on the structural…
Feedback from massive stars is believed to play a critical role in shaping the galaxy mass function, the structure of the interstellar medium (ISM), and the low efficiency of star formation, but the exact form of the feedback is uncertain.…
Radiation feedback from stellar clusters is expected to play a key role in setting the rate and efficiency of star formation in giant molecular clouds (GMCs). To investigate how radiation forces influence realistic turbulent systems, we…
We present the results from simulations of GMC formation in spiral galaxies. First we discuss cloud formation by cloud-cloud collisions, and gravitational instabilities, arguing that the former is prevalent at lower galactic surface…
We investigate the formation of stars within giant molecular clouds (GMCs) evolving in environments of different global magnetic field strength and large-scale dynamics. Building upon a series of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of…
We use magnetohydrodynamical simulations of converging warm neutral medium flows to analyse the formation and global evolution of magnetised and turbulent molecular clouds subject to supernova feedback from massive stars. We show that…
Most stars in the Galaxy are believed to be formed within star clusters from collapsing molecular clouds. However, the complete process of star formation, from the parent cloud to a gas-free star cluster, is still poorly understood. We…
Observations that resolve nearby galaxies into individual regions across multiple phases of the gas-star formation-feedback ``matter cycle'' have provided a sharp new view of molecular clouds, star formation efficiencies, timescales for…
The formation and evolution of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in spiral galaxies have been investigated in the traditional framework of the combined quasi-stationary density wave and galactic shock model. However, our understanding of the…
I review the evidence for the importance of feedback from massive stars at small and large scales. The feedback mechanisms include accretion luminosity, ionizing radiation, collimated outflows, and stellar winds. The good news is that…
We present a suite of 3D multi-physics MHD simulations following star formation in isolated turbulent molecular gas disks ranging from 5 to 500 parsecs in radius. These simulations are designed to survey the range of surface densities…
We use numerical simulations of isolated galaxies to study the effects of stellar feedback on the formation and evolution of giant star-forming gas 'clumps' in high-redshift, gas-rich galaxies. Such galactic disks are unstable to the…
We present the results of a numerical simulation in which star formation proceeds from an initially unbound molecular cloud core. The turbulent motions, which dominate the dynamics, dissipate in shocks leaving a quiescent region which…
We present a series of high-resolution cosmological simulations of galaxy formation to z=0, spanning halo masses ~10^8-10^13 M_sun, and stellar masses ~10^4-10^11. Our simulations include fully explicit treatment of both the multi-phase ISM…
Radiation feedback from young star clusters embedded in giant molecular clouds (GMCs) is believed to be important to the control of star formation. For the most massive and dense clouds, including those in which super star clusters (SSCs)…
We present a numerical study of the evolution of molecular clouds, from their formation by converging flows in the warm ISM, to their destruction by the ionizing feedback of the massive stars they form. We improve with respect to our…
Giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are the sites of star formation and stellar feedback in galaxies. Their properties set the initial conditions for star formation and their lifecycles determine how feedback regulates galaxy evolution. In recent…
Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) are observed to be turbulent, but theory shows that without a driving mechanism turbulence should quickly decay. The question arises by which mechanisms turbulence is driven or sustained. It has been shown that…
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…