Related papers: Turbulence, Coherence and Collapse: Three Phases f…
I describe the scenario of molecular cloud (MC) evolution that has emerged over the past decade or so. MCs can start out as cold atomic clouds formed by compressive motions in the warm neutral medium (WNM) of galaxies. Such motions can be…
Aims: We derive the probability density functions (PDFs) of column density for a complete sample of prominent molecular cloud complexes closer than 200 pc. Methods: We derive near-infrared dust extinction maps for 23 molecular cloud…
Core-collapse supernovae are among the most fascinating phenomena in astrophysics and provide a formidable challenge for theoretical investigation. They mark the spectacular end of the lives of massive stars and, in an explosive eruption,…
We present a catalogue of molecular cloud cores drawn from high latitude, medium opacity clouds, using the all-sky IRAS Sky Survey Atlas (ISSA) images at 60 and 100~$\mu$m. The typical column densities of the cores are $ N(H_2)\sim 3.8…
(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…
Using hydrodynamic simulations we investigate the rotational properties and angular momentum evolution of prestellar and protostellar cores formed from gravoturbulent fragmentation of interstellar gas clouds. We find the specific angular…
Stars form through the gravitational collapse of molecular cloud cores. Before collapsing, the cores are supported by thermal pressure and turbulent motions. A question of critical importance for the understanding of star formation is how…
High-mass stars have an enormous influence on the evolution of the interstellar medium in galaxies, so it is important that we understand how they form. We examine the central clumps within a sample of seven infrared-dark clouds (IRDCs)…
We study the dynamical evolution of globular clusters using our H\'enon-type Monte Carlo code for stellar dynamics including all relevant physics such as two-body relaxation, single and binary stellar evolution, Galactic tidal stripping,…
Core-collapse supernovae, the culmination of massive stellar evolution, are spectacular astronomical events and the principle actors in the story of our elemental origins. Our understanding of these events, while still incomplete, centers…
Recent observational and theoretical investigations have emphasised the importance of filamentary networks within molecular clouds as sites of star formation. Since such environments are more complex than those of isolated cores, it is…
We investigate molecular evolution from a molecular cloud core to a first hydrostatic core in three spatial dimensions. We perform a radiation hydrodynamic simulation in order to trace fluid parcels, in which molecular evolution is…
We calculate the evolution of cloud cores embedded in different envelopes to investigate environmental effects on the mass accretion rate onto protostars. As the initial state, we neglect the magnetic field and cloud rotation, and adopt…
Low-mass stars are generally understood to form by the gravitational collapse of the dense molecular clouds known as starless cores. Continuum observations have not been able to distinguish among the several different hypotheses that…
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…
We study the dynamical evolution of idealised stellar systems by averaging results from many $N$-body simulations, each having modest numbers of stars. For isolated systems with stars of uniform mass, we discuss aspects of evolution up to…
We report the first three-dimensional radiation magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) simulations of protostellar collapse with and without Ohmic dissipation.We take into account many physical processes required to study star formation processes,…
The overwhelming evidence that the core collapse supernova mechanism is inherently multidimensional, the complexity of the physical processes involved, and the increasing evidence from simulations that the explosion is marginal presents…
Nonspherical mass motions are a generic feature of core-collapse supernovae, and hydrodynamic instabilities play a crucial role for the explosion mechanism. First successful neutrino-driven explosions could be obtained with self-consistent,…
We aim to reveal the physical properties and chemical composition of the cores in the California molecular cloud (CMC), so as to better understand the initial conditions of star formation. We made a high-resolution column density map…