Related papers: Determining the cosmic ray ionization rate in dyna…
We develop a detailed chemical model for the starless cores of strongly magnetized molecular clouds, with the ambipolar diffusion-driven dynamic evolution of the clouds coupled to the chemistry through ion abundances. We concentrate on two…
Measurements of cosmic-ray abundances on balloons are affected by interactions in the residual atmosphere above the balloon. Corrections for such interactions are particularly important for observations of rare secondary particles such as…
The observed star formation rate of the Milky Way can be explained by applying a metallicity-dependent factor to convert CO luminosity to molecular gas mass and a star formation efficiency per free-fall time that depends on the virial…
Cosmic rays (CRs) are dynamically important for the formation and evolution of galaxies by regulating star formation and by powering galactic outflows. However, to what extent CRs regulate galaxy formation depends on the coupling strength…
Using the redshift evolution of the neutral hydrogen density, as inferred from observations of damped Ly$\alpha$ clouds, we calculate the evolution of star formation rates and elemental abundances in the universe. For most observables our…
We use UV measurements of interstellar CO towards nearby stars to calculate the density in the diffuse molecular clouds containing the molecules responsible for the observed absorption. Chemical models and recent calculations of the…
In the Milky Way, cosmic rays (CRs) are dynamically important in the interstellar medium, contribute to hydrostatic balance, and may help regulate star formation. However, we know far less about the importance of CRs in galaxies whose gas…
Cosmic rays (CRs) can significantly impact dense molecular clouds in galaxies, heating the interstellar medium (ISM) and altering its chemistry, ionization, and thermal properties. Their influence is particularly relevant in environments…
We present a theoretical investigation of CN and HCN molecule formation in dense interstellar clouds. We study the gas-phase CN and HCN production efficiencies from the outer photon-dominated regions (PDRs) into the opaque cosmic-ray…
We report on the first phase of our study of cloud irradiation. We study irradiation by means of numerical, two-dimensional time-dependent radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of a cloud irradiated by a strong radiation. We adopt a very…
The chemical composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays is a key question in particle astrophysics. The measured composition, inferred from the elongation rates of cosmic ray showers, looks in general very different from the initial…
Using Spitzer Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory data, we identify YSOs in the Rosette Molecular Cloud (RMC). By being able to select cluster members and classify them into YSO types, we are able to track the progression of star…
We model molecular cloud fragmentation with thin disk non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic simulations that include ambipolar diffusion and partial ionization that transitions from primarily ultraviolet dominated to cosmic ray dominated regimes.…
We assess the ionising effect of low energy protostellar cosmic rays in protoplanetary disks around a young solar mass star for a wide range of disk parameters. We assume a source of low energy cosmic rays located close to the young star…
Recent submillimeter and far-infrared wavelength observations of absorption in the rotational ground-state lines of various simple molecules against distant Galactic continuum sources have opened the possibility of studying the chemistry of…
The physical evolution of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) is accompanied by an enrichment of the molecular complexity, mainly triggered by the heating and energetic processing of the astrophysical ices. In this paper, a study of how the ice…
A flux of cosmic rays (CRs) propagating through a diffuse ionized gas can excite MHD waves, thus generating magnetic disturbances. We propose a generic model of CR penetration into molecular clouds through their diffuse envelopes, and…
Recent deep millimeter-wave surveys attempt to measure the carbon monoxide (CO) luminosity function and mean molecular gas density through blind detections of CO emission lines. While the cosmic star formation rate density is now…
To study the chemical evolution during the formation of molecular clouds, we model three types of clouds with different density structures: collapsing spherical, collapsing ellipsoidal, and static spherical profiles. The collapsing models…
We study the thermal evolution of primordial star-forming gas clouds using three-dimensional cosmological simulations. We critically examine how assumptions and approximations made in calculating radiative cooling rates affect the dynamics…