Related papers: Turbulent Structure of the Interstellar Medium
We investigate giant molecular cloud (GMCs) collisions and their ability to induce gravitational instability and thus star formation. This mechanism may be a major driver of star formation activity in galactic disks. We carry out a series…
This two-part review summarizes interstellar turbulence and its implications. The first part begins with diagnostics and energy sources. Turbulence theory is considered in detail, including the basic fluid equations, solenoidal and…
We present high resolution simulations on the impact of ionizing radiation of massive O-stars on the surrounding turbulent interstellar medium (ISM). The simulations are performed with the newly developed software iVINE which combines…
During the last two decades, the focus of star formation research has shifted from understanding the collapse of a single dense core into a star to studying the formation hundreds to thousands of stars in molecular clouds. In this chapter,…
The formation of astrophysical structures, such as stars, compact objects but also galaxies, entail an,enhancement of densities by many orders of magnitude which occurs through gravitational collapse. The role played by turbulence during…
Molecular clouds are essentially made up of atomic and molecular hydrogen, which in spite of being the simplest molecule in the ISM plays a key role in the chemical evolution of molecular clouds. Since its formation time is very long, the…
We investigate the interplay between the ionization radiation from massive stars and the turbulence inside the surrounding molecular gas thanks to 3D numerical simulations. We used the 3D hydrodynamical code HERACLES to model an initial…
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…
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…
Star formation in our Galaxy occurs in molecular clouds that are self-gravitating, highly turbulent, and magnetized. We study the conditions under which cloud cores inherit large-scale magnetic field morphologies and how the field is…
We suggest that molecular clouds can be formed on short time scales by compressions from large scale streams in the interstellar medium (ISM). In particular, we argue that the Taurus-Auriga complex, with filaments of 10-20 pc $\times$ 2-5…
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.…
Observations of magnetic field strengths imply that molecular cloud fragments are individually close to being in a magnetically critical state, even though both magnetic field and column density measurements range over two orders of…
The morphology and kinematics of molecular clouds (MCs) are best explained as the consequence of super--sonic turbulence. Super--sonic turbulence fragments MCs into dense sheets, filaments and cores and large low density ``voids'', via the…
We propose that inward, subsonic flows arise from the local dissipation of turbulent motions in molecular clouds. Such "turbulent cooling flows" may account for recent observations of spatially extended inward motions towards dense cores.…
The accumulation, compression and cooling of the ambient interstellar medium (ISM) in large-scale flows powered by OB cluster feedback can drive the production of dense molecular clouds. We review the current state of the field, with a…
Observational evidence from local star-forming regions mandates that star formation occurs shortly after, or even during, molecular cloud formation. Models of the formation of molecular clouds in large-scale converging flows have identified…
How molecular clouds fragment and create the dense structures which go on to form stars is an open question. We investigate the relative importance of different energy terms (kinetic, thermal, magnetic, and gravity - both self-gravity and…
We study turbulent dissipation in the ISM and explore some implications for galaxy formation and evolution using 2D MHD numerical simulations of compressible fluids. The turbulent kinetic energy E_k is injected by stellar sources formed…
The injection of turbulence in the circum-galactic medium at redshift z = 2 is investigated using the mesh-based hydrodynamic code Enzo and a subgrid-scale (SGS) model for unresolved turbulence. Radiative cooling and heating by a uniform…