Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2008-12-12
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
12pages, 5figures, invited review at the IAUS 256, The Magellanic System: Stars, Gas, and Galaxies, eds. Jacco van Loon, Joana
Scientific paper
10.1017/S1743921308028457
The Magellanic Clouds offer unique opportunities to study star formation both on the global scales of an interacting system of gas-rich galaxies, as well as on the scales of individual star-forming clouds. The interstellar media of the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds and their connecting bridge, span a range in (low) metallicities and gas density. This allows us to study star formation near the critical density and gain an understanding of how tidal dwarfs might form; the low metallicity of the SMC in particular is typical of galaxies during the early phases of their assembly, and studies of star formation in the SMC provide a stepping stone to understand star formation at high redshift where these processes can not be directly observed. In this review, I introduce the different environments encountered in the Magellanic System and compare these with the Schmidt-Kennicutt law and the predicted efficiencies of various chemo-physical processes. I then concentrate on three aspects that are of particular importance: the chemistry of the embedded stages of star formation, the Initial Mass Function, and feedback effects from massive stars and its ability to trigger further star formation.
Oliveira Maria Joao
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