On the time variability of the star formation efficiency

Details On the time variability of the star formation efficiency On the time variability of the star formation efficiency

2010-09-28

arxiv.org/abs/1009.5674v1

Astrophys.J.727:L12,2011

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Galaxy Astrophysics

5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to APJL

Scientific paper

10.1088/2041-8205/727/1/L12

A star formation efficiency per free fall time that evolves over the life time of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) may have important implications for models of supersonic turbulence in molecular clouds or for the relation between star formation rate and H2 surface density. We discuss observational data that could be interpreted as evidence of such a time variability. In particular, we investigate a recent claim based on measurements of H2 and stellar masses in individual GMCs. We show that this claim depends crucially on the assumption that H2 masses do not evolve over the life times of GMCs. We exemplify our findings with a simple toy model that uses a constant star formation efficiency and, yet, is able to explain the observational data.

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