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A Bose star passing through cold molecular clouds may capture atoms, molecules and dust particles. The observational signature of such an event would be a relatively small amount of matter that is gravitationally bound. This binding may…
Nuclear Star Clusters are observed at the center of many galaxies. In particular in the center of the Milky Way the Nuclear Star Cluster coexists with a cen- tral supermassive black hole. The origin of these clusters is still unknown; a…
Observations that resolve nearby galaxies into individual regions across multiple phases of the gas-star formation-feedback ``matter cycle'' have provided a sharp new view of molecular clouds, star formation efficiencies, timescales for…
Molecular jets are seen coming from the youngest protostars in the early phase of low-mass star formation. They are detected in CO, SiO, and SO at (sub)millimeter wavelengths down to the innermost regions, where their associated protostars…
Recent observations of young stellar systems with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) are helping to cement the idea that close companion stars form via fragmentation of a…
We discuss problems with some observational estimates indicating long protostellar core lifetimes and large stellar age spreads in molecular clouds. We also point out some additional observational constraints which suggest that protostellar…
Star clusters stand at the intersection of much of modern astrophysics: the interstellar medium, gravitational dynamics, stellar evolution, and cosmology. Here we review observations and theoretical models for the formation, evolution, and…
We discuss the Kolmogorov complexity of primordial patches that collapse to form galaxies like the Milky Way; this complexity quantifies the amount of initial data available to form the structure. We also speculate on how the quantity…
Thin stellar streams, such as those resulting from the tidal disruption of globular clusters, have long been known and used as probes of the gravitational potential of our Galaxy, both its visible and dark contents. In particular, the…
We are just starting to understand the physical processes driving the dramatic change in cosmic star-formation rate between $z\sim 2$ and the present day. A quantity directly linked to star formation is the molecular gas density, which…
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…
Observed molecular clouds often appear to have very low star formation efficiencies and lifetimes an order of magnitude longer than their free-fall times. Their support is attributed to the random supersonic motions observed in them. We…
The cycling of material from the interstellar medium (ISM) into stars and the return of stellar ejecta into the ISM is the engine that drives the "galactic ecology" in normal spirals, a cornerstone in the formation and evolution of galaxies…
Star formation within the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) may be intimately linked to the orbital dynamics of the gas. Recent models suggest that star formation within the dust ridge molecular clouds (from G0.253+0.016 to Sgr B2) follows an…
The crossing of the Galactic disk by a Globular Cluster could produce star formation due to gravitational focussing or compression of disk material. We report on simulations of the effect on disk material which reveal that the crossing can…
The high velocity dispersion compact cloud CO-0.30-0.07 is a peculiar molecular clump discovered in the central moleculr zone of the Milky Way, which is characterized by its extremely broad velocity emissions ($\sim 145\ \rm{km s^{-1}}$)…
A supersonic cloud-cloud collision produces a shock-compressed layer which leads to formation of high-mass stars via gravitational instability. We carried out a detailed analysis of the layer by using the numerical simulations of…
It is widely believed that star clusters form with low star formation efficiencies. With the onset of stellar winds by massive stars or finally when the first super nova blows off, the residual gas is driven out of the embedded star…
The empirical laws of star formation suggest that galactic-scale gravity is involved, but they do not identify the actual triggering mechanisms for clusters in the final stages. Many other triggering processes satisfy the empirical laws…
We report the first evidence for high-mass star formation triggered by collisions of molecular clouds in M33. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, we spatially resolved filamentary structures of giant molecular cloud 37…