On the Star Formation Rates in Molecular Clouds

Lada, Charles J.; Lombardi, Marco; Alves, J.

doi:10.1088/0004-637x/724/1/687

Cited by 704 publications

(1,228 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…Lada et al (2010) find roughly linear relationships between SFR and gas above an extinction threshold of A K ≈ 0.8 mag in Galactic clumps, a result consistent with the work of Heiderman et al (2010). These authors argue that this is comparable to a threshold surface density of ∼ 100 M pc −2 , which is roughly equivalent to a volume density threshold of ∼ 10 4−5 cm −3 , depending on the cloud geometry.…”

Section: Physics Learned From the Milky Way And Local Galaxiessupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Complementary work utilizing HCO + (J=3-2), which has a similar effective density as HCN (J=1-0) (Juneau et al, 2009), as well as high-visual extinction molecular gas as dense gas tracers have found roughly linear dense gas star formation laws for clumps within the Milky Way (Lada et al, 2010;Schenck et al, 2011). Mangum et al (2008) and Mangum et al (2013) observe formaldehyde in a sample of nearby disks and starbursts, suggesting a linear relationship between SFR and dense gas mass traced by this molecule is also possible.…”

Section: Physics Learned From the Milky Way And Local Galaxiesmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Dusty star-forming galaxies at high redshift

2014

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Far-infrared and submillimeter wavelength surveys have now established the important role of dusty, star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) in the assembly of stellar mass and the evolution of massive galaxies in the Universe. The brightest of these galaxies have infrared luminosities in excess of 10 13 L with implied star-formation rates of thousands of solar masses per year. They represent the most intense starbursts in the Universe, yet many are completely optically obscured. Their easy detection at submm wavelengths is due to dust heated by ultraviolet radiation of newly forming stars. When summed up, all of the dusty, star-forming galaxies in the Universe produce an infrared radiation field that has an equal energy density as the direct starlight emission from all galaxies visible at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths. The bulk of this infrared extragalactic background light emanates from galaxies as diverse as gas-rich disks to mergers of intense starbursting galaxies. Major advances in far-infrared instrumentation in recent years, both spacebased and ground-based, has led to the detection of nearly a million DSFGs, yet our understanding of the underlying astrophysics that govern the start and end of the dusty starburst phase is still in nascent stage. This review is aimed at summarizing the current status of DSFG studies, focusing especially on the detailed characterization of the bestunderstood subset (submillimeter galaxies, who were summarized in the last review of this field over a decade ago, Blain et al. 2002), but also the selection and characterization of more recently discovered DSFG populations. We review DSFG population statistics, their physical properties including dust, gas and stellar contents, their environments, and current theoretical models related to the formation and evolution of these galaxies.

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Section: Physics Learned From the Milky Way And Local Galaxiessupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Physics Learned From the Milky Way And Local Galaxiesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Dusty star-forming galaxies at high redshift

2014

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“…In which case, the gas in the CMZ and disk of the Milky Way can not fit on the same density-dependent star formation relations. Also note that nearly all of the gas in the CMZ lies close to or above the threshold for efficient star formation proposed by Lada et al (2010) and Heiderman et al (2010) and yet most of the gas is not forming stars.…”

Section: Is Star Formation Different In the Galactic Center And The Dmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…Applying this threshold to observations of gas in nearby galaxies reproduces the observed star formation rate (Lada et al 2010). Krumholz, Dekel & McKee (2012) show that a fixed star formation rate per free-fall time of 1% can also explain the observed star formation rate from gas reservoirs across this range of spatial scales.…”

mentioning

confidence: 70%

“…Lada et al 2012, Krumholz, Dekel & McKee 2012. Several studies find evidence for an empirical gas surface density threshold in nearby molecular clouds of ∼120 M /pc 2 , above which gas is efficiently converted into stars (Lada et al 2010, Heiderman et al 2010) †. They convert this surface density threshold to a critical volume density of…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conversion of gas into stars in the Galactic center

Longmore

2013

Proc. IAU

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Abstract. The star formation rate in the central 500 pc of the Milky Way is lower by a factor of > 10 than expected for the substantial amount of dense gas it contains, which challenges current star formation theories. I discuss which physical mechanisms could be causing this observation and put forward a self-consistent cycle of star formation in the Galactic center, in which the plausible star formation inhibitors are combined. Their ubiquity suggests that the perception of a lowered central SFR should be a common phenomenon in other galaxies with direct implications for galactic star formation and also potentially supermassive black hole growth. I then describe a scenario to explain the presence of super star clusters in the Galactic center environment, in which their formation is triggered by gas streams passing close to the minimum of the global Galactic gravitational potential at the location of the central supermassive black hole, Sgr A*. If this triggering mechanism can be verified, we can use the known time interval since closest approach to Sgr A* to study the physics of stellar mass assembly in an extreme environment as a function of absolute time. I outline the first results from detailed numerical simulations testing this scenario. Finally, I describe a study showing that in terms of the baryonic composition, kinematics, and densities, the gas in the Galactic center is indistinguishable from high-redshift clouds and galaxies. As such, the Galactic center clouds may be used as a template to understand the evolution (and possibly the life cycle) of high-redshift clouds and galaxies.

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Growing evidence for a core formation threshold traced in Herschel Gould Belt survey clouds

Könyves¹,

André²,

Schneider³

et al. 2013

Astron Nachr

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It has already been suggested that a threshold in column density -or in visual extinction -may need to be exceeded to form dense cores and then protostars. Based on Herschel Gould Belt survey results in the Aquila and Orion B molecular cloud complexes we observe clear connection between the locations of the detected prestellar cores and their background column density values. This finding appears to support a core formation scenario where such threshold corresponds to the extinction above which interstellar filaments become gravitationally unstable and fragment into cores. In these two actively star-forming regions we find the vast majority of the gravitationally bound prestellar cores above a high column density of about (6-7) × 10 21 cm −2 (A V ∼ 6-7). This limit similarly appears in the column density probability distribution function (PDF) of the regions as well. The spatial distribution of the protostars and young stellar objects (YSOs) also shows a tight connection with the densest sites of both clouds, as more than 70 % of them appear above the mentioned A V thresholds.

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On the Star Formation Rates in Molecular Clouds

Cited by 704 publications

References 40 publications

Dusty star-forming galaxies at high redshift

Dusty star-forming galaxies at high redshift

Conversion of gas into stars in the Galactic center

Growing evidence for a core formation threshold traced in Herschel Gould Belt survey clouds

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