Related papers: The molecular cloud lifecycle
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…
It remains a major challenge to derive a theory of cloud-scale ($\lesssim100$ pc) star formation and feedback, describing how galaxies convert gas into stars as a function of the galactic environment. Progress has been hampered by a lack of…
The processes of star formation and feedback, regulating the cycle of matter between gas and stars on the scales of giant molecular clouds (GMCs; $\sim$100pc), play a major role in governing galaxy evolution. Measuring the time-scales of…
The physics of star formation and the deposition of mass, momentum, and energy into the interstellar medium by massive stars (`feedback') are the main uncertainties in modern cosmological simulations of galaxy formation and evolution. These…
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…
In this work, we trace the complete life cycle of individual GMCs in high-resolution Milky Way-mass galaxy simulations to determine how different stellar feedback mechanisms and galactic-scale processes govern cloud lifetimes, mass…
Giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are well-studied in the local Universe, however, exactly how their properties vary during galaxy evolution is poorly understood due to challenging resolution requirements, both observational and computational.…
Giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are the sites of star formation in the Galaxy. Many of their properties can be understood in terms of a model in which the GMCs and the star-forming clumps within them are in approximate pressure equilibrium,…
Giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are the primary reservoirs of cold, star-forming molecular gas in the Milky Way and similar galaxies, and thus any understanding of star formation must encompass a model for GMC formation, evolution, and…
We present a detailed study of the evolution of GMCs in a galactic disc simulation. We follow individual GMCs (defined in our simulations by a total column density criterion), including their level of star formation, from their formation to…
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…
Multiple mechanisms are proposed for the formation of giant molecular clouds (GMCs), from gravitational free-fall caused by self-gravity to stellar feedback-driven gas compression. Both the galactic environment and galaxy conditions could…
We present a large suite of MHD simulations of turbulent, star-forming giant molecular clouds(GMCs) with stellar feedback, extending previous work by simulating 10 different random realizations for each point in the parameter space of cloud…
Recent observations have demonstrated that giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are short-lived entities, surviving for the order of a dynamical time before turning a few percent of their mass into stars and dispersing, leaving behind an isolated…
Stellar feedback, star formation and gravitational interactions are major controlling forces in the evolution of Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs). To explore their relative roles, we examine the properties and evolution of GMCs forming in an…
Energetic feedback from star clusters plays a pivotal role in shaping the dynamical evolution of giant molecular clouds (GMCs). To study the effects of stellar feedback on the star formation efficiency of the clouds and the dynamical…
Recent radio observations show that the giant molecular cloud (GMC) mass functions noticeably vary across galactic disks. High-resolution magnetohydrodynamics simulations show that multiple episodes of compression are required for creating…
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…
Recent radio observations towards nearby galaxies started to map the whole disk and to identify giant molecular clouds (GMCs) even in the regions between galactic spiral structures. Observed variations of GMC mass functions in different…
Multi-wavelength observations of molecular and ionized gas indicate that GMCs are short-lived, generally dispersing within one or two dynamical timescales. To investigate the physical origin of these short lifetimes and the role of star…