Related papers: The Global Structure of Molecular Clouds: I. Trend…
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…
We leverage the 1 pc spatial resolution of the Leike et al. 2020 3D dust map to characterize the three-dimensional structure of nearby molecular clouds ($d \lesssim 400$ pc). We start by "skeletonizing" the clouds in 3D volume density space…
The formation of stars is inextricably linked to the structure of their parental molecular clouds. Here we take a number of nearby giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and analyse their column density and mass distributions. This investigation is…
We review the progress that has been made in observing and analyzing molecular cloud structure in recent years. Structures are self-similar over a wide range of scales with similar power law indices independent of the star forming nature of…
Stars and planets are formed inside dense interstellar molecular clouds, by processes imprinted on the 3-dimensional (3D) morphology of the clouds. Determining the 3D structure of interstellar clouds remains challenging, due to projection…
We introduce the concept of a class of equivalence of molecular clouds represented by an abstract spherically symmetric, isotropic object. This object is described by use of abstract scales in respect to a given mass density distribution.…
We review recent advances in the analytical and numerical modeling of the star formation rate in molecular clouds and discuss the available observational constraints. We focus on molecular clouds as the fundamental star formation sites,…
Molecular clouds are a fundamental ingredient of galaxies: they are the channels that transform the diffuse gas into stars. The detailed process of how they do it is not completely understood. We review the current knowledge of molecular…
Stars in galaxies form in giant molecular clouds that coalesce when the atomic hydrogen is converted into molecules. There are currently two dominant models for what property of the galactic disk determines its molecular fraction: either…
Clouds more massive than about $10^5$ M$_\odot$ are potential sites of massive cluster formation. Studying the properties of such clouds in the early stages of their evolution offers an opportunity to test various cluster formation…
Molecular clouds (MCs) are highly structured and ``turbulent''. Colliding gas streams of atomic hydrogen have been suggested as a possible source of MCs, imprinting the filamentary structure as a consequence of dynamical and thermal…
Knowledge of the three-dimensional structure of Galactic molecular clouds is important for understanding how clouds are affected by processes such as turbulence and magnetic fields and how this structure effects star formation within them.…
The true 3-dimensional (3D) morphology of the Musca molecular cloud is a topic that has received significant attention lately. Given that Musca does not exhibit intense star-formation activity, unveiling its shape has the potential of also…
We present the results of a study of simulated Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) formed in a Milky Way-type galactic disk with a flat rotation curve. This simulation, which does not include star formation or feedback, produces clouds with…
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…
The mass function of molecular clouds and clumps is shallower than the mass function of young star clusters, gas-embedded and gas-free alike, as their respective mass function indices are $\beta_0 \simeq 1.7$ and $\beta_\star \simeq 2$. We…
We describe an overall picture of galactic-scale star formation. Recent high-resolution magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of two-fluid dynamics with cooling/heating and thermal conduction have shown that the formation of molecular clouds…
Molecular clouds are regions of dense gas and dust in space where new stars and planets are born. There is a strong correlation between the distribution of dust and molecular gas in molecular clouds. The present work focuses on the…
Molecular clouds are the principle stellar nurseries of our universe, keeping them in the focus of both observational and theoretical studies. From observations, some of the key properties of molecular clouds are well known but many…
We investigate the structure of the molecular cloud complexes (MCCs) as a group of several giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the Galaxy. Then, we find that the mass-size relation which has been reported for the GMCs establishes well even for…