Related papers: Cloud-cloud collisions and triggered star formatio…
With the help of a statistical parameter derived from optical spectra, we show that the current star formation rate of a galaxy, falling into a cluster along a supercluster filament, is likely to undergo a sudden enhancement before the…
We review recent work that investigates the formation of stellar clusters, ranging in scale from globular clusters through open clusters to the small scale aggregates of stars observed in T associations. In all cases, recent advances in…
(Abridged) The building blocks of galaxies are star clusters. These form with low-star formation efficiencies and, consequently, loose a large part of their stars that expand outwards once the residual gas is expelled by the action of the…
There are at least 2 distinct mechanisms for the formation of young massive clusters (YMC), all of which require galactic-scale processes. One operates in harrassed fragile galaxies, in the dense cores of low mass galaxies, at the ends of…
Star clusters and their stellar populations play a significant role in the context of galaxy evolution, across space (from local to high redshift) and time (from currently forming to fossil remnants). We are now within reach of answering a…
Large numbers of young stars are formed in merging galaxies, such as the Antennae galaxies. Most of these stars are formed in compact star clusters (i.e., super star clusters), which have been the focus of a large number of studies.…
Most, perhaps all, stars go through a phase of vigorous outflow during formation. We examine, through 3D MHD simulation, the effects of protostellar outflows on cluster formation. We find that the initial turbulence in the cluster-forming…
Galaxy interactions and mergers play a significant, but still debated and poorly understood role in the star formation history of galaxies. Numerical and theoretical models cannot yet explain the main properties of merger-induced…
To address the problem concerning the early formation of stars in massive galaxies, we present the results of a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation which includes a physical description of starbursts triggered by galaxy interactions.…
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 study the large-scale triggering of star formation in galaxies. We find that the largest mass-scale not stabilized by rotation, a well defined quantity in a rotating system and with clear dynamical meaning, strongly correlates with the…
The high-density environment of galaxy clusters is ripe for collisional encounters of galaxies. While the large velocity dispersion of clusters was originally thought to preclude slow encounters, the infall of smaller groups into the…
Galactic star formation scaling relations show increased scatter from kpc to sub-kpc scales. Investigating this scatter may hold important clues to how the star formation process evolves in time and space. Here, we combine different…
We study giant molecular cloud (GMC) collisions and their ability to trigger star cluster formation. We further develop our three dimensional magnetized, turbulent, colliding GMC simulations by implementing star formation sub-grid models.…
It is widely accepted that stars do not form in isolation but result from the fragmentation of molecular clouds, which in turn leads to star cluster formation. Over time, clusters dissolve or are destroyed by interactions with molecular…
We present a model for the formation of massive ($M > 10 M_\odot$) stars through accretion-induced collisions in the cores of embedded dense stellar clusters. This model circumvents the problem of accreting onto a star whose luminosity is…
Using parsec-resolution simulations of a typical galaxy merger, we study the triggering of starbursts by connecting the (inter-)galactic dynamics to the structure of the interstellar medium. The gravitational encounter between two galaxies…
I present recent observations and analyses of star cluster formation in a wide variety of environments -- from young star clusters and super star clusters in normal actively star-forming spirals and irregulars to starbursting dwarfs and…
The history of star formation in the strong gravitational potential of the Galactic center has been of much interest, recently. We propose that the sub-parsec-scale disk of massive stars orbiting the massive black hole at the Galactic…
(Abridged) The formation of molecular clouds (MCs) from the diffuse interstellar gas appears to be a necessary step for star formation, as young stars invariably occur within them. However, the mechanisms controlling the formation of MCs…