Related papers: Star Formation Thresholds in Galactic Disks
Despite the existence of well-defined relationships between cold gas and star formation, there is evidence that some galaxies contain large amounts of HI that do not form stars efficiently. By systematically assessing the link between HI…
The history of star formation in the strong gravitational potential of the Galactic center has been of much interest, recently. We propose that the sub-parsec-scale disk of massive stars orbiting the massive black hole at the Galactic…
The physical conditions in molecular clouds control the nature and rate of star formation, with consequences for planet formation and galaxy evolution. The focus of this review is on the conditions that characterize regions of star…
We propose a simple theoretical model for star formation in which the local star formation rate in a galaxy is determined by three factors. First, the interplay between the interstellar radiation field and molecular self-shielding…
The spatially resolved star formation histories are studied for 32 normal star-forming galaxies drawn from the the Spitzer Extended Disk Galaxy Exploration Science survey. At surface brightness sensitivities fainter than 28 mag…
Observations have suggested that galactic outflows contain substantial amounts of dense and clumpy molecular gas, creating favourable conditions for igniting star formation. Indeed, theoretical models and hydrodynamical simulations have…
We study the galactic-scale triggering of star formation. We find that the largest mass-scale not stabilized by rotation, a well defined quantity in a rotating system and with clear dynamical meaning, strongly correlates with the star…
Stars and star clusters 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…
Star formation by gravitational instabilities, sequential triggering, and turbulence triggering are briefly reviewed in order to compare the various mechanisms that are observed in main galaxy disks with those in the inner kiloparsec…
Observations of the interstellar medium are key to deciphering the physical processes regulating star formation in galaxies. However, observational uncertainties and detection limits can bias the interpretation unless carefully modeled.…
We have carried out a sensitive search for gas emission lines at infrared and millimeter wavelengths for a sample of 15 young sun-like stars selected from our dust disk survey with the Spitzer Space Telescope. We have used mid-infrared…
Several models have predicted that stars could form inside galactic outflows and that this would be a new major mode of galaxy evolution. Observations of galactic outflows have revealed that they host large amounts of dense and clumpy…
Galaxies above redshift 1 can be very clumpy, with irregular morphologies dominated by star complexes as large as 2 kpc and as massive as a few 10^8 or 10^9 Mo. Their co-moving densities and rapid evolution suggest that most present-day…
Our GHOSTS survey measures the stellar envelope properties of 14 nearby disk galaxies by imaging their resolved stellar populations with HST/ACS&WFPC2. Most of the massive galaxies in the sample (Vrot >200 km/s) have very extended stellar…
Star formation in interacting systems may take place in various locations, from the dust--enshrouded core of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies to more unusual places such as the debris of colliding galaxies expelled into the intergalactic…
Recent integral-field spectroscopy observations have revealed that thick- and thin-disk star-formation histories are regulated by the interplay of internal and external processes. We analyze stellar-population properties of 24 spiral…
We present half-light sizes measured from H${\alpha}$ emission tracing star-formation in 281 star-forming galaxies from the KMOS3D survey at 0.7 < z < 2.7. Sizes are derived by fitting 2D exponential disk models, with bootstrap errors…
Young massive stars in the central parsec of our Galaxy are best explained by star formation within at least one, and possibly two, massive self-gravitating gaseous discs. With help of numerical simulations, we here consider whether the…
Star formation from the interstellar medium of galactic disks is a basic process controlling the evolution of galaxies. Understanding the star formation rate in a local patch of a disk with a given gas mass is thus an important challenge…
Recent observations have revealed massive galactic molecular outflows that may have physical conditions (high gas densities) required to form stars. Indeed, several recent models predict that such massive galactic outflows may ignite star…