Related papers: QSO Absorption Lines, Gaseous Infall and Star Form…
Stars in galaxies form from the cold rotationally supported gaseous disks that settle at the center of dark matter halos. In the simplest models, such angular momentum is acquired early on at the time of collapse of the halo and preserved…
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…
The star formation history of a galaxy, explicitely here our Milky Way Galaxy, where the most detailed information is attainable, is the convolution of two functions. One function describes the rate of formation of the stars which are today…
Selected results from recent studies of star formation in galaxies at different stages of interaction are reviewed. Recent results from the Spitzer Space Telescope are highlighted. Ideas on how large-scale driving of star formation in…
We review progress in understanding the formation of galactic disks in the standard cosmogonic scenario involving gravitational clustering of baryons and dark matter and dissipative collapse of the baryons. This scenario accounts remarkably…
Observations of circumstellar disks around stars as a function of stellar properties such as mass, metallicity, multiplicity, and age, provide constraints on theories concerning the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Utilizing…
Ever deeper and wider lookback surveys have led to a fairly robust outline of the cosmic star formation history, which culminated around z~2 -- a period often nicknamed "cosmic noon." Our knowledge about star-forming galaxies at these…
It is well established in the local Universe that regions of high star-formation rate are dusty. As a result of this physical causal link, galaxies of increasing current star formation activity emit a larger proportion of their bolometric…
I review observational studies of the large-scale star formation process in nearby galaxies. A wealth of new multi-wavelength data provide an unprecedented view on the interplay of the interstellar medium and (young) stellar populations on…
Galaxy formation is at the heart of our understanding of cosmic evolution. Although there is a consensus that galaxies emerged from the expanding matter background by gravitational instability of primordial fluctuations, a number of…
Over the past decade, progress in observational capabilities, combined with theoretical advancements, have transformed our comprehension of the physics and chemistry during planet formation. Despite these important steps forward, open…
We reexamine the systematic properties of local galaxy populations, using published surveys of star formation, structure, and gas content. After recalibrating star formation measures, we are able to reliably measure specific star formation…
We present a set of coupled equations that relate the stellar, gaseous, chemical, and radiation constituents of the universe averaged over the whole galaxy population. Using as input the available data from quasar absorption-line surveys,…
Not the way one might have thought. In hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation, some gas follows the traditionally envisioned route, shock heating to the halo virial temperature before cooling to the much lower temperature of the…
Over the past 10 years abundant evidence has emerged that many (if not all) stars are born with circumstellar disks. Understanding the evolution of post-accretion disks can provide strong constraints on theories of planet formation and…
We study the recent star formation histories of local galaxies by analyzing the scatter in their colours and spectral properties. We present evidence that the distribution of star formation histories changes qualitatively above a…
Analyses of QSO absorption lines are showing that HI content has evolved over the redshift range z=5 to z= 0. The 21cm line measurements of the z=0 HI content avoid several biases inherent in the absorption line technique, such as the…
Galaxies represent the visible fabric of the Universe and there has been considerable progress recently in both observational and theoretical studies. The underlying goal is to understand the present-day diversity of galaxy forms, masses…
Observational evidence shows that gravitational lensing induces an angular correlation between the distribution of galaxies and much more distant QSOs. We use weak gravitational lensing theory to calculate this angular correlation, updating…
The formation and evolution of galaxies is one of the great outstanding problems of astrophysics. Within the broad context of hierachical structure formation, we have only a crude picture of how galaxies like our own came into existence. A…