Related papers: Studying Magnetic Fields in Star Formation and the…
Observational evidence for strong magnetic fields throughout the envelopes of evolved stars is increasing. Many of the instruments coming on line in the near-future will be able to make further contributions to this field. Specifically,…
How does turbulence contribute to the formation and structure of the dense interstellar medium (ISM)? Molecular clouds are dense, high-pressure objects. It is usually argued that gravitational confinement causes the high pressures, and that…
We analyse extinction maps of nearby Giant Molecular Clouds to forge a link between driving processes of turbulence and modes of star formation. Our investigation focuses on cloud structure in the column density range above the self…
Today, the generation of magnetic fields in solar-type stars and its relation to activity and rotation can coherently be explained, although it is certainly not understood in its entirety. Rotation facilitates the generation of magnetic…
Many types of stars have strong magnetic fields that can dynamically influence the flow of circumstellar matter. In stars with accretion disks, the stellar magnetic field can truncate the inner disk and determine the paths that matter can…
Turbulent fragmentation determines where and when protostellar cores form, and how they contract and grow in mass from the surrounding cloud material. This process is investigated, using numerical models of self-gravitating molecular cloud…
We investigate star formation from subparsec to kpc scales with magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models of a cloud structure and a section of galactic spiral arm. We aim to understand how magnetic fields affect star formation, cloud formation and…
Star formation occurs in dark molecular regions where the number density of hydrogen nuclei, nH, exceeds 10^4 cc and the fractional ionization is 10^-7 or less. Dust grains with sizes ranging up to tenths of microns and perhaps down to tens…
Massive star winds are important contributors to the energy, momentum and chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium. Strong, organized and predominantly dipolar magnetic fields have been firmly detected in a small subset of massive…
MHD turbulence plays a central role in the physics of star-forming molecular clouds and the interstellar medium. I here show that MHD turbulence in molecular clouds must be driven to account for the observed supersonic motions in the…
We explore the effects of magnetic energy dissipation on the formation of the first stars. For this purpose, we follow the evolution of primordial chemistry in the presence of magnetic fields in the post-recombination universe until the…
Like their lower mass siblings, massive protostars can be expected to: a) be surrounded by circumstellar disks and b) launch magnetically-driven jets and outflows. The disk formation and global evolution is thereby controlled by advection…
I present an overview of the hierarchy of structures existing in the interstellar medium (ISM) and the possible mechanisms that cause the fragmentation of one level into the next, with the formation of stars as its last step. Within this…
Star formation in magnetically subcritical clouds is investigated using a three-dimensional non-ideal magneto-hydrodynamics simulation. Since rapid cloud collapse is suppressed until the magnetic flux is sufficiently removed from the…
The dust reservoir in the interstellar medium of a galaxy is constantly being replenished by dust formed in the stellar winds of evolved stars. Due to their vicinity, nearby irregular dwarf galaxies the Magellanic Clouds provide an…
A detailed understanding of the physics of star and planet formation requires study of individual objects as well as statistical assessment of global properties and evolutionary trends. Observational investigations of circumstellar material…
We investigate numerically the combined effects of supersonic turbulence, strong magnetic fields and ambipolar diffusion on cloud evolution leading to star formation. We find that, in clouds that are initially magnetically subcritical,…
Galaxy disk formation must incorporate the multiphase nature of the interstellar medium. The resulting two-phase structure is generated and maintained by gravitational instability and supernova energy input, which yield a source of…
Truncated abstract: The formation of a protostellar disc is a natural outcome during the star formation process. As gas in a molecular cloud core collapses under self-gravity, the angular momentum of the gas will slow its collapse on small…
We present the largest sample of high-mass star-forming regions observed using submillimetre imaging polarimetry. The data were taken using SCUBA in conjunction with the polarimeter on the JCMT in Hawaii. In total, 16 star forming regions…