Related papers: Slow Star Formation in the Milky Way: Theory Meets…
We present a comparison of the Milky Way's star formation rate (SFR) surface density ($\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$) obtained with two independent state-of-the-art observational methods. The first method infers $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ from observations of…
Gravitationally-bound clusters that survive gas removal represent an unusual mode of star formation in the Milky Way and similar spiral galaxies. While forming, they can be distinguished observationally from unbound star formation by their…
We combine star-formation histories derived from observations of high redshift galaxies with measurements of the z~0 relation between gas-phase metallicity, stellar mass, and star formation rate to make an explicit and completely empirical…
Stellar chemical element ratios have well-defined systematic trends as a function of abundance, with an excellent correlation of these trends with stellar populations defined kinematically. This is remarkable, and has significant…
We performed a correlation analysis between the brightness temperature of the CO line and number density of HII regions in the longitude--velocity diagram (LVD) of the Milky Way in order to investigate the volumetric star-formation law. We…
We describe results from semi-analytical modelling of star formation in protocluster clumps of different metallicities. In this model, gravitationally bound cores form uniformly in the clump following a prescribed core formation efficiency…
It has been known for more than 30 years that star formation in giant molecular clouds (GMCs) is slow, in the sense that only ~1% of the gas forms stars every free-fall time. This result is entirely independent of any particular model of…
In the Milky Way and other main-sequence galaxies, stars form exclusively in molecular gas, which is traced by CO emission. However, low metallicity dwarf galaxies are often `CO-dark' in the sense that CO emission is not observable even at…
We test some ideas for star formation relations against data on local molecular clouds. On a cloud by cloud basis, the relation between the surface density of star formation rate and surface density of gas divided by a free-fall time,…
On galactic scales, the surface density of star formation appears to be well correlated with the surface density of molecular gas. This has lead many authors to suggest that there exists a causal relationship between the chemical state of…
The environment within the inner few hundred parsecs of the Milky Way, known as the "Central Molecular Zone" (CMZ), harbours densities and pressures orders of magnitude higher than the Galactic Disc; akin to that at the peak of cosmic star…
Observations of external galaxies and of local star-forming clouds in the Milky Way have suggested a variety of star formation laws, i.e., simple direct relations between the column density of star formation (Sigma_SFR: the amount of gas…
Using reconstructed galaxy star formation histories, we calculate the instantaneous efficiency of galaxy star formation (i.e., the star formation rate divided by the baryon accretion rate) from $z=8$ to the present day. This efficiency…
[abridged] The star formation rates (SFR) of low-metallicity galaxies depend sensitively on the gas metallicity, because metals are crucial to mediating the transition from intermediate-temperature atomic gas to cold molecular gas, a…
Most of our current understanding of the planet formation mechanism is based on the planet metallicity correlation derived mostly from solar-type stars harbouring gas-giant planets. To achieve a far more reaching grasp on the substellar…
We offer a simple parameterization of the rate of star formation in galaxies. In this new approach, we make explicit and decouple the timescales associated (a) with disruptive effects the star formation event itself, from (b) the timescales…
We investigate how the dynamical state of molecular clouds relates to host galaxy environment, and how this impacts the star formation efficiency in the Milky Way and seven nearby galaxies. We compile measurements of molecular cloud and…
The star formation efficiency (SFE) measures the proportion of molecular gas converted into stars, while the star formation rate (SFR) indicates the rate at which gas is transformed into stars. Here we propose such a model in the framework…
Star formation, together with the associated chemical and energy feedback, is one of the most important processes in galaxy evolution. The star formation activity in galaxies defines and affects many of their fundamental properties, such as…
Star formation takes place in the dense gas phase, and therefore a simple dense gas and star formation rate relation has been proposed. With the advent of multi-beam receivers, new observations show that the deviation from linear relations…