Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-10-17
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
4 pages, 2 figures, CUP conference format. To be published in "IAU Symposium 237: Triggered Star Formation in a Turbulent ISM"
Scientific paper
One of the outstanding puzzles about star formation is why it proceeds so slowly. Giant molecular clouds convert only a few percent of their gas into stars per free-fall time, and recent observations show that this low star formation rate is essentially constant over a range of scales from individual cluster-forming molecular clumps in the Milky Way to entire starburst galaxies. This striking result is perhaps the most basic fact that any theory of star formation must explain. I argue that a model in which star formation occurs in virialized structures at a rate regulated by supersonic turbulence can explain this observation. The turbulence in turn is driven by star formation feedback, which injects energy to offset radiation from isothermal shocks and keeps star-forming structures from wandering too far from virial balance. This model is able to reproduce observational results covering a wide range of scales, from the formation times of young clusters to the extragalactic IR-HCN correlation, and makes additional quantitative predictions that will be testable in the next few years.
No associations
LandOfFree
Turbulence, Feedback, and Slow Star Formation does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Turbulence, Feedback, and Slow Star Formation, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Turbulence, Feedback, and Slow Star Formation will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-98898