Related papers: Extreme Starbursts and Molecular Clouds in Galaxie…
Moderately luminous starbursts in the nearby universe often occur in disk galaxies that are at most subject to mild external perturbations. An investigation of this type of galaxy leads to a better understanding of starburst triggering…
We use numerical simulation to investigate the triggering of starbursts in merging disk galaxies. The properties of the merger-driven starbursts are sensitive to the structure of the progenitor galaxies; specifically, to the amount of…
Extreme star formation includes star formation in starbursts and regions forming super star clusters. We survey the current problems in our understanding of the star formation process in starbursts and super star clusters - initial mass…
The currently available empirical evidence on the star formation processes in the extreme, high-pressure environments induced by galaxy encounters, mostly based on high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging observations, strongly…
There is increasing evidence for the presence of blue super star clusters in the central regions of ultraluminous infrared galaxies like Arp 220. Ultraluminous galaxies are thought to be triggered by galaxy mergers, and it has often been…
Stars are forming in our galaxy at a rate of between 1 and 4 solar masses of stars per year. In contrast to elliptical galaxies, which are largely devoid of star formation, star formation is still going on in spiral galaxies because of…
We demonstrate that the high pressure of the hot intracluster medium (ICM) can trigger the collapse of molecular clouds in a spiral galaxy, leading to a burst of star formation in the clouds. Our hydrodynamical simulations show that the…
Mergers of massive gas-rich galaxies trigger violent starbursts that - over timescales of $> 100$ Myr and regions $> 10$ kpc - form massive and compact star clusters comparable in mass and radii to Galactic globular clusters. The star…
New high resolution interferometer data of 10 IR ultraluminous galaxies shows the molecular gas is in rotating nuclear rings or disks with radii 300 to 800 pc. Most of the CO flux comes from a moderate-density, warm, intercloud medium…
The rate of star formation varies between galaxy types and evolves with redshift. Most stars in the universe have formed in episodes of an exceptionally high star-forming activity, commonly called a starburst. We here summarize basic…
Massive present-day early-type (elliptical and lenticular) galaxies probably gained the bulk of their stellar mass and heavy elements through intense, dust-enshrouded starbursts - that is, increased rates of star formation - in the most…
Starburst galaxies have a highly increased star-formation rate compared to regular galaxies and inject huge amounts of kinetic power into the interstellar medium via supersonic stellar winds, and supernova explosions. Supernova remnants,…
Submillimeter bright galaxies in the early Universe are vigorously forming stars at ~1000 times higher rate than the Milky Way. A large fraction of stars is formed in the central 1 kiloparsec region, that is comparable in size to massive,…
In this contribution, our knowledge of the initial conditions under which massive star formation takes place is reviewed. Massive stars are born in massive clumps of giant molecular clouds (GMCs), hence first the properties of GMCs are…
Extragalactic starbursts induced by gravitational interactions can now be studied from z = ~0 to ~2. The evidence that mergers of gas-rich galaxies tend to trigger galaxy-wide starbursts is strong, both statistically and in individual cases…
Starbursts are extreme concentrations of star-forming activity with mass conversion surface densities reaching over 1000 times higher than normal for disk galaxies. They are responsible for a large fraction of all cosmic star formation.…
Using studies of nearby star formation with Spitzer, I will argue that star formation is restricted to dense cores within molecular clouds. The nature of these dense cores and their connection to star formation will be discussed. Their…
Giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are the sites of star formation in the Galaxy. Many of their properties can be understood in terms of a model in which the GMCs and the star-forming clumps within them are in approximate pressure equilibrium,…
Stars form by gravoturbulent fragmentation of interstellar gas clouds. The supersonic turbulence ubiquitously observed in Galactic molecular gas generates strong density fluctuations with gravity taking over in the densest and most massive…
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.…