Related papers: The Dynamical Structure and Evolution of Giant Mol…
We present preliminary numerical evidence that the physical conditions in high-mass star forming regions can arise from global gravitational infall, with the velocity dispersions being caused primarily by infall motions rather than random…
Modern hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation are able to predict accurately the rates and locations of the assembly of giant molecular clouds in early galaxies. These clouds could host star clusters with the masses and sizes of real…
Throughout the Milky Way, molecular clouds typically appear filamentary, and mounting evidence indicates that this morphology plays an important role in star formation. What is not known is to what extent the dense filaments most closely…
The richest and largest structures in the cosmic web are galaxy superclusters, their complexes (associations of several almost connected very rich superclusters), and planes. Superclusters represent a special environment where the evolution…
We propose and investigate a new formation mechanism for globular clusters in which they form within molecular clouds that are formed in the shocked regions created by galactic winds driven by successive supernova explosions shortly after…
Our numerical simulations first demonstrate that the pressure of ISM in a major merger becomes so high ($>$ $10^5$ $\rm k_{\rm B}$ K $\rm cm^{-3}$) that GMCs in the merger can collapse to form globular clusters (GCs) within a few Myr. The…
What is the nature of a star forming clump? Observations reveal these to be chaotic environments being modified and influenced by many physical processes. However, numerical simulations often define these initial star forming clumps to be…
The Central Molecular Zone (CMZ, the central 500 pc of the Milky Way) contains the largest reservoir of high-density molecular gas in the Galaxy, but forms stars at a rate 10-100 times below commonly-used star formation relations. We…
We use simulations with realistic models for stellar feedback to study galaxy mergers. These high resolution (1 pc) simulations follow formation and destruction of individual GMCs and star clusters. The final starburst is dominated by in…
Cloud-cloud collisions (CCCs) are expected to compress gas and trigger star formation. However, it is not well understood how the collisions and the induced star formation affect galactic-scale properties. By developing an on-the-fly…
We attempt to make a complete census of massive-star formation within all of GMC G345.5+1.0. This cloud is located one degree above the galactic plane and at 1.8 kpc from the Sun, thus there is little superposition of dust along the…
The largest galaxies in the Universe reside in galaxy clusters. Using sensitive observations of carbon-monoxide, we show that the Spiderweb Galaxy -a massive galaxy in a distant protocluster- is forming from a large reservoir of molecular…
The physics of star formation and the deposition of mass, momentum, and energy into the interstellar medium by massive stars (`feedback') are the main uncertainties in modern cosmological simulations of galaxy formation and evolution. These…
The history of star formation in the strong gravitational potential of the Galactic center has been of much interest, recently. We propose that the sub-parsec-scale disk of massive stars orbiting the massive black hole at the Galactic…
We demonstrate that the high pressure of the hot intracluster medium (ICM) can trigger the collapse of molecular clouds in a spiral galaxy, leading to a burst of star formation in the clouds. Our hydrodynamical simulations show that the…
Compression in giant molecular cloud (GMC) collisions is a promising mechanism to trigger formation of massive star clusters and OB associations. We simulate colliding and non-colliding magnetised GMCs and examine the properties of…
The formation of molecular clouds, which serve as stellar nurseries in galaxies, is poorly understood. A class of cloud formation models suggests that a large-scale galactic magnetic field is irrelevant at the scale of individual clouds,…
It is well known that the energy input from massive stars dominates the thermal and mechanical heating of typical regions in the interstellar medium of galaxies. These effects are amplified tremendously in the immediate environment of young…
Stars form within molecular clouds but our understanding of this fundamental process remains hampered by the complexity of the physics that drives their evolution. We review our observational and theoretical knowledge of molecular clouds…
Stars form by gravoturbulent fragmentation of interstellar gas clouds. The supersonic turbulence ubiquitously observed in Galactic molecular gas generates strong density fluctuations with gravity taking over in the densest and most massive…