Related papers: Science with an ngVLA: Molecular Clouds in Galaxie…
The formation and evolution of disks early in the protostellar phase is an area of study in which the ngVLA is poised to make significant breakthroughs. The high-sensitivity and resolution at wavelengths of 3~mm and longer will enable…
Various sign-posts of recent star-formation activity, such as water and methanol maser emission or magnetically active low-mass young stars, can be detected with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) radio arrays. The extremely accurate…
I review some recent results about the molecular content of galaxies, obtained essentially from the CO lines, but also dense tracers, or the dust continuum emission. New results have been obtained on molecular cloud physics, and their…
Stars form within molecular clouds but our understanding of this fundamental process remains hampered by the complexity of the physics that drives their evolution. We review our observational and theoretical knowledge of molecular clouds…
Our understanding of stellar atmospheres and our ability to infer architectures of extrasolar planetary systems rely on understanding the emission of stars at submillimeter to centimeter wavelengths. In this chapter we describe how…
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…
We present an analysis of the physical conditions in an extreme molecular cloud in the Antennae merging galaxies. This cloud has properties consistant with those required to form a globular cluster. We have obtained ALMA CO and 870$\mu$m…
Clouds containing molecular dark matter in quantities relevant for star formation may exist in minihaloes of the type of cold dark matter included in many cosmological simulations or in the regions of some galaxies extending far beyond…
We present new ALMA observations of CO, CN, CS, HCN and HCO$^{+}$ absorption seen against the bright and compact radio continuum sources of eight massive galaxies. Combined with archival observations, they reveal two distinct populations of…
Determining the mechanisms that formed and grew the first supermassive black holes is one of top priorities in extragalactic astrophysics. Observational clues can be inferred from the demographics of massive black holes (in the ten thousand…
(Abridged) Massive stars can determine the evolution of molecular clouds with their strong ultraviolet (UV) radiation fields. Moreover, UV radiation is relevant in setting the thermal gas pressure in star-forming clouds, whose influence can…
The past two decades have seen extensive surveys of the far-infrared to submillimeter continuum emission in the plane of our Galaxy. We line out prospects for the coming decade for corresponding molecular and atomic line surveys which are…
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.…
Massive star formation involves significant ionization in the innermost regions near the central object, such as gravitationally trapped H II regions, jets, ionized disks, or winds. Resolved observations of the associated continuum and…
We observed five giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in the 12CO J=1-0 line using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The sample includes four GMCs with some signs of star formation --…
A large fraction of the gas in the Galaxy is cold, dense, and molecular. If all this gas collapsed under the influence of gravity and formed stars in a local free-fall time, the star formation rate in the Galaxy would exceed that observed…
We review recent high-resolution CO observations of distant QSOs obtained at the Very Large Array. The aim of these observations is to resolve the molecular gas distribution in these extreme objects both spatially and in velocity space.…
ALMA will revolutionize the study of star formation by providing a combination of angular resolution and sensitivity that far exceeds that of present instruments. I will focus on studies of relatively isolated cores that are forming…
We present simulations of the capabilities of the Next Generation Very Large Array to image at high angular resolution substructures in the dust emission of protoplanetary disks. The main goal of this study is to investigate the kinds of…
The recent availability of wideband receivers and high sensitivity instruments in the mm and submm wavelengths has opened the possibility of studying in detail the chemistry of the interstellar medium in extragalactic objects. Within the…