Related papers: Mass Spectra from Turbulent Fragmentation
I review recent results derived from numerical simulations of the turbulent interstellar medium (ISM), in particular concerning the nature and formation of turbulent clouds, methods for comparing the structure in simulations and…
Most, perhaps all, stars go through a phase of vigorous outflow during formation. We examine, through 3D MHD simulation, the effects of protostellar outflows on cluster formation. We find that the initial turbulence in the cluster-forming…
We discuss the role of turbulence in cloud and star formation, as observed in numerical simulations of the interstellar medium. Turbulent compression at the interfaces of colliding gas streams is responsible for the formation of…
Star formation is inefficient. Recent advances in numerical simulations and theoretical models of molecular clouds show that the combined effects of interstellar turbulence, magnetic fields and stellar feedback can explain the low…
Using numerical simulations of the formation and evolution of stellar clusters within molecular clouds, we show that the stars in clusters formed within collapsing molecular cloud clumps exhibit a constant velocity dispersion regardless of…
Recently, we have shown that if the ISM is governed by super-sonic turbulent flows, the excursion-set formalism can be used to calculate the statistics of self-gravitating objects over a wide range of scales. On the largest self-gravitating…
The kinetic energy of supersonic turbulence within interstellar clouds is subject to cooling by dissipation in shocks and subsequent line radiation. The clouds are therefore susceptible to a condensation process controlled by the specific…
The spatial range for feedback from star formation varies from molecular cloud disruption on parsec scales to supershells and disk blowout on kiloparsec scales. The relative amounts of energy and momentum given to these scales is important…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is playing a critical role in the history of our universe. We propose a theory that is based solely on local processes, namely the dust opacity limit, the tidal forces and the properties of the…
We present a direct numerical and analytical study of driven supersonic MHD turbulence that is believed to govern the dynamics of star-forming molecular clouds. We describe statistical properties of the turbulence by measuring the velocity…
Turbulent dynamics generate random fluctuations in density and velocity in the Interstellar Medium (ISM) of spiral and dwarf galaxies. Observationally, H~{\sc i} 21-cm radiation provides a good probe of these stochastic processes and helps…
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…
One of the outstanding puzzles about star formation is why it proceeds so slowly. Giant molecular clouds convert only a few percent of their gas into stars per free-fall time, and recent observations show that this low star formation rate…
Dense cores, the progenitors of stars, are in sub-pc scale and fragmented from pc-scale clumps. However, it is still unclear that how strongly the fragmentation process is affected by the properties of the host clumps, and how these…
I review theoretical models of star formation and how they apply across the stellar mass spectrum. Several distinct theories are under active study for massive star formation, especially Turbulent Core Accretion, Competitive Accretion and…
The collapse of weakly turbulent prestellar cores is a critical stage in the process of star formation. Being highly non-linear and stochastic, the outcome of collapse can only be explored theoretically by performing large ensembles of…
Supersonic turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM) is closely linked to the formation of stars, and hence many theories connect the stellar initial mass function (IMF) with the turbulent properties of molecular clouds. Here we test…
We investigate turbulent gas motions in spiral galaxies and their importance to star formation in far outer disks, where the column density is typically far below the critical value for spontaneous gravitational collapse. Following the…
Star clusters are known to be formed in turbulent molecular clouds. How turbulence is driven in molecular clouds and what effect this has on star formation is still unclear. We compare a simulation setup with turbulent driving everywhere in…
The cold diffuse interstellar medium must harbor pockets of hot gas to produce the large observed abundances of molecular species, the formation of which require much more energy than available in the bulk of its volume. These hot spots…