Related papers: Nonlinear Criterion for the Stability of Molecular…
The formation of stars is inextricably linked to the structure of their parental molecular clouds. Here we take a number of nearby giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and analyse their column density and mass distributions. This investigation is…
The collapse and fragmentation of initially prolate and oblate, magnetic molecular clouds is calculated in three dimensions with a gravitational, radiative hydrodynamics code. The code includes magnetic field effects in an approximate…
Hydrodynamic stability has been a longstanding issue for the cloud model of the broad line region in active galactic nuclei. We argue that the clouds may be gravitationally bound to the supermassive black hole. If true, stabilisation by…
We summarize the current status of the turbulent model of star formation in turbulent molecular clouds. In this model, clouds, clumps and cores form a hierarchy of nested density fluctuations caused by the turbulence, and either collapse or…
Observations indicate that dense molecular filamentary clouds are sites of star formation. The filament width determines the most unstable scale for self-gravitational fragmentation and influences the stellar mass. Therefore, constraining…
We present the results of a large suite of three-dimensional (3D) models of the collapse of magnetic molecular cloud cores using the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) code Enzo2.2 in the ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) approximation. The…
Magnetic fields are important contributers to the dynamics of collapsing molecular cloud cores, and can have a major effect on whether collapse results in a single protostar or fragmentation into a binary or multiple protostar system. New…
A self-similar formalism for the study of the gravitational collapse of molecular gas provides an important theoretical framework from which to explore the dynamics of star formation. Motivated by the presence of elongated and filamentary…
Filamentary structures are often identified in column density maps of molecular clouds, and appear to be important for both low- and high-mass star formation. Theoretically, these structures are expected to form in regions where the…
We discuss the lifetimes and evolution of clumps and cores formed as turbulent density fluctuations in nearly isothermal molecular clouds. In the non-magnetic case, clumps are unlikely to reach a hydrostatic state, and instead are expected…
Following an approach initially outlined by McKee & Holliman, we investigate the structure and stability of dense, starless molecular cloud cores. We model those as spherical clouds in hydrostatic equilibrium and supported against gravity…
We examine the linear stability of an isothermal filamentary cloud permeated by a perpendicular magnetic field. Our model cloud is assumed to be supported by gas pressure against the self-gravity in the unperturbed state. For simplicity,…
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…
We discuss the lifetimes and evolution of dense cores formed as turbulent density fluctuations in magnetized, isothermal molecular clouds. We consider numerical simulations in which we measure the cores' magnetic criticality and Jeans…
We present magnetohydrodynamic simulations aimed at studying the effect of the magnetic suppression of turbulence (generated through various instabilities during the formation of molecular clouds by converging) on the subsequent star…
When cool clouds are ram-pressure accelerated by a hot supersonic galactic wind, some of the clouds may be shredded by hydrodynamical instabilities and incorporated into the hot flow. Recent one-dimensional steady-state calculations show…
We further develop the model of molecular cloud fragmentation introduced in Field, Blackman and Keto (2007; FBK). We show that external pressure acting on fragments establishes a scale-dependent critical mass. Fragments with masses less…
Hydrodynamic supersonic turbulence can only prevent local gravitational collapse if the turbulence is driven on scales smaller than the local Jeans lengths in the densest regions, a very severe requirement (Paper I). Magnetic fields have…
Observations reveal concentrations of molecular line emission on the sky, called ``clumps,'' in dense, star-forming molecular clouds. These clumps are believed to be the eventual sites of star formation. We study the three-dimensional…
The basic strategy underlying models of spontaneous wave function collapse (collapse models) is to modify the Schroedinger equation by including nonlinear stochastic terms, which tend to localize wave functions in space in a dynamical…