Related papers: A stochastic and analytical model of hierarchical …
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…
Most stars in the Galaxy are believed to be formed within star clusters from collapsing molecular clouds. However, the complete process of star formation, from the parent cloud to a gas-free star cluster, is still poorly understood. We…
A large fraction of the gas in the Galaxy is cold, dense, and molecular. If all this gas collapsed under the influence of gravity and formed stars in a local free-fall time, the star formation rate in the Galaxy would exceed that observed…
The collapse and fragmentation of filamentary primordial gas clouds are explored using 1D and 2D hydrodynamical simulations coupled with the nonequilibrium processes of H2 formation. The simulations show that depending upon the initial…
We present a model for describing the general structure of molecular clouds (MCs) at early evolutionary stages in terms of their mass-size relationship. Sizes are defined through threshold levels at which equipartitions between…
Massive stars form in clusters within self-gravitating molecular clouds. The size scale of these clusters is sufficiently large that non-thermal, or turbulent, motions of the gas must be taken into account when considering their formation.…
Motivated by recent observational searches of sub-structure in starless molecular cloud cores, we investigate the evolution of density perturbations on scales smaller than the Jeans length embedded in contracting isothermal clouds, adopting…
The theory for the formation of the first population of stars (Pop III) predicts an initial mass function (IMF) dominated by high-mass stars, in contrast to the present-day IMF, which tends to yield mostly stars with masses less than 1…
We report on the results of the first 3D SPH simulation of massive, gravitationally unstable protoplanetary disks with radiative transfer. We adopt a flux-limited diffusion scheme justified by the high opacity of most of the disk. The…
Molecular gas disks are generally Toomre stable ($Q_T>$1) and yet clearly gravitationally unstable to structure formation as evidenced by the existence of molecular clouds and ongoing star formation. This paper adopts a 3D perspective to…
Molecular clouds have complex density structures produced by processes including turbulence and gravity. We propose a triangulation-based method to dissect the density structure of a molecular cloud and study the interactions between dense…
In Meidt et al. (2018), we showed that gas kinematics on the scale of individual molecular clouds are not dominated by self-gravity but also track a component that originates with orbital motion in the potential of the host galaxy. This…
We perform three-dimensional shearing-box hydrodynamical simulations to explore the outcome of gravitational instability in the outer regions of neutrino-cooled disks such as those formed from the collapse of rotating massive stars…
We analyse extinction maps of nearby Giant Molecular Clouds to forge a link between driving processes of turbulence and modes of star formation. Our investigation focuses on cloud structure in the column density range above the self…
Much of what we know about molecular clouds, and by extension star formation, comes from molecular line observations. Interpreting these correctly requires knowledge of the underlying molecular abundances. Simulations of molecular clouds…
We test the hypothesis that globular clusters form in supergiant molecular clouds within high-redshift galaxies. Numerical simulations demonstrate that such large, dense, and cold gas clouds assemble naturally in current hierarchical models…
We present a computational framework for galactic evolution based on a coupled stochastic nonlinear oscillator, implemented with the \textbf{Stochastic Hopf Engine}. Gas density ($G$) and star formation rate ($S$) co-evolve through a…
Stars are often observed to form in clusters. It is therefore important to understand how such a region of concentrated mass is assembled out of the diffuse medium and its properties eventually prescribe the important physical mechanisms…
Young stars form on a wide range of scales, producing aggregates and clusters with various degrees of gravitational self-binding. The loose aggregates have a hierarchical structure in both space and time that resembles interstellar…
Filamentary structures are ubiquitous in molecular clouds, and have been recently argued to play an important role in regulating the size and mass of embedded clumps through fragmentation and mass accretion. Here, we reveal the dynamical…