Related papers: Molecular Clouds. Formation and Disruption
We used CO (2-1) and CO (1-0) data cubes to identify molecular clouds and study their kinematics and dynamics in three nearby galaxies and the inner Milky Way. When observed at similar spatial and velocity resolutions, molecular clouds in…
We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations of seven massive molecular clumps which are dark in the far-infrared for wavelengths up to 70 $\mu$m. Our 1.3 mm continuum images reveal 44 dense cores, with gas masses ranging from 1.4 to…
On its journey through the Galaxy, the Sun passes through diverse regions of the interstellar medium. High-resolution spectroscopic measurements of interstellar absorption lines in spectra of nearby stars show absorption components from…
The magnetic field of molecular clouds (MCs) plays an important role in the process of star formation: it determins the statistical properties of supersonic turbulence that controls the fragmentation of MCs, controls the angular momentum…
A longstanding prediction in interstellar theory posits that significant quantities of molecular gas, crucial for star formation, may be undetected due to being ``dark" in commonly used molecular gas tracers, such as carbon monoxide. We…
Properties of candidate stars, forming out of molecular clouds, depend on the ambient conditions of the parent cloud. We present a series of 2D and 3D simulations of fragmentation of molecular clouds in starburst regions as well as clouds…
We review the role that magnetic field may have on the formation and evolution of molecular clouds. After a brief presentation and main assumptions leading to ideal MHD equations, their most important correction, namely the ion-neutral…
Clouds more massive than about $10^5$ M$_\odot$ are potential sites of massive cluster formation. Studying the properties of such clouds in the early stages of their evolution offers an opportunity to test various cluster formation…
Stars in galaxies form in giant molecular clouds that coalesce when the atomic hydrogen is converted into molecules. There are currently two dominant models for what property of the galactic disk determines its molecular fraction: either…
We study the instantaneous virial balance of clumps and cores (CCs) in 3D simulations of driven, MHD, isothermal molecular clouds (MCs). The models represent a range of magnetic field strengths in MCs from subcritical to non-magnetic…
We present the first systematic study of the density structure of clouds found in a complete sample covering all major molecular clouds in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ; inner $\sim{}200~\rm{}pc$) of the Milky Way. This is made possible…
Multiple mechanisms are proposed for the formation of giant molecular clouds (GMCs), from gravitational free-fall caused by self-gravity to stellar feedback-driven gas compression. Both the galactic environment and galaxy conditions could…
Our understanding of how molecular clouds form in the interstellar medium (ISM) would be greatly helped if we had a reliable observational tracer of the gas flows responsible for forming the clouds. Fine structure emission from singly…
Using the IRAM 30m telescope two molecular structures have been detected which cover very small areas, FWHM<1'. The clouds have velocities of v_lsr~5kms and linewidth of dv~0.8km/s; thus they belong most likely to the Milky Way. Applying…
We performed one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations with detailed cooling, heating and chemical processes to examine the thermal stability of shocked gas in cold neutral medium (CNM) and molecular clouds. We find that both CNM and…
We explore whether observed molecular clouds could include a substantial population of unbound clouds. Using simulations which include only turbulence and gravity, we are able to match observed relations and naturally reproduce the observed…
We analyze surveys of molecular cloud structures defined by tracers ranging from CO $J = 1-0$ through $^{13}$CO $J = 1-0$ to dust emission together with NH$_3$ data. The mean value of the virial parameter and the fraction of mass in bound…
Star formation in the inner few hundred pc of the Galactic bulge occurs in a flattened molecular layer called the central molecular zone (CMZ). Serabyn & Morris (1996) suggest that the star formation in the CMZ has been sustained for the…
The interstellar medium (ISM) is a key ingredient of galaxies and their evolution, consisting of multiphase, turbulent dust and gas. Some of the star-forming regions in our Galaxy originate from cloud-cloud and wind-cloud collisions, which…
We perform ideal MHD high resolution AMR simulations with driven turbulence and self-gravity and find that long filamentary molecular clouds are formed at the converging locations of large-scale turbulence flows and the filaments are…