scholarly journals The role of collision speed, cloud density, and turbulence in the formation of young massive clusters via cloud–cloud collisions

2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (1) ◽  
pp. 1099-1115
Author(s):  
Kong You Liow ◽  
Clare L Dobbs
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Star Formation Rate ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Conveyor Belt ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds ◽  
Formation Mode ◽  
Smoothed Particle ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽  
Massive Clusters ◽  
Cloud Density

ABSTRACT Young massive clusters (YMCs) are recently formed astronomical objects with unusually high star formation rates. We propose the collision of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) as a likely formation mechanism of YMCs, consistent with the YMC conveyor-belt formation mode concluded by other authors. We conducted smoothed particle hydrodynamical simulations of cloud–cloud collisions and explored the effect of the clouds’ collision speed, initial cloud density, and the level of cloud turbulence on the global star formation rate and the properties of the clusters formed from the collision. We show that greater collision speed, greater initial cloud density and lower turbulence increase the overall star formation rate and produce clusters with greater cluster mass. In general, collisions with relative velocity ≳ 25 km s−1, initial cloud density ≳ 250 cm−3, and turbulence of ≈2.5 km s−1 can produce massive clusters with properties resembling the observed Milky Way YMCs.

scholarly journals Testing star formation rate indicators using galaxy merger simulations and radiative transfer

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S262) ◽  
pp. 257-260
Author(s):  
Christopher C. Hayward ◽  
Patrik Jonsson ◽  
Kai Noeske ◽  
Stijn Wuyts ◽  
T. J. Cox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Star Formation Rate ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Star Formation History ◽  
Spectral Energy ◽  
Merging Galaxies ◽  
Formation History ◽  
Particle Hydrodynamics ◽  
Smoothed Particle

AbstractWe discuss our ongoing project analyzing N-body/smoothed-particle hydrodynamics simulations of isolated and merging galaxies, performed using GADGET-2 (Springel 2005), with the 3-D adaptive grid, polychromatic Monte Carlo radiative transfer code SUNRISE (Jonsson 2006). We apply commonly used UV, optical, and IR star formation rate (SFR) indicators to the integrated spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the simulated galaxies in order to determine how well the SFR indicators recover the instantaneous SFR in the simulations. The models underlying each SFR indicator must necessarily make assumptions about physical properties of the galaxies, e.g., the star formation history (SFH), whereas all such properties are known in the simulations. This enables us to test and compare SFR indicators in a way that is complementary to observational studies. We present one preliminary result of interest: even after correcting the Hα luminosity for dust using the Calzetti et al. (2000) attenuation law the SFR is significantly underestimated for simulated galaxies with SFR ≳ 10 M⊙ yr−1.

scholarly journals Implementing and comparing sink particles in AMR and SPH

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S270) ◽  
pp. 425-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Federrath ◽  
Robi Banerjee ◽  
Daniel Seifried ◽  
Paul C. Clark ◽  
Ralf S. Klessen
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Adaptive Mesh Refinement ◽  
Star Formation Rate ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Particle Creation ◽  
Adaptive Mesh ◽  
Particle Properties ◽  
Particle Hydrodynamics ◽  
Smoothed Particle ◽  
Density Threshold

AbstractWe implemented sink particles in the Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) code FLASH to model the gravitational collapse and accretion in turbulent molecular clouds and cores. Sink particles are frequently used to measure properties of star formation in numerical simulations, such as the star formation rate and efficiency, and the mass distribution of stars. We show that only using a density threshold for sink particle creation is insufficient in case of supersonic flows, because the density can exceed the threshold in strong shocks that do not necessarily lead to local collapse. Additional physical collapse indicators have to be considered. We apply our AMR sink particle module to the formation of a star cluster, and compare it to a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) code with sink particles. Our comparison shows encouraging agreement of gas and sink particle properties between the AMR and SPH code.

scholarly journals How do bound star clusters form?

2020 ◽  
Vol 494 (1) ◽  
pp. 624-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R Krumholz ◽  
Christopher F McKee
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Star Formation Rate ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Free Fall ◽  
Conveyor Belt ◽  
Young Stellar Objects ◽  
Gas Removal ◽  
Gas Accretion

ABSTRACT Gravitationally bound clusters that survive gas removal represent an unusual mode of star formation in the Milky Way and similar spiral galaxies. While forming, they can be distinguished observationally from unbound star formation by their high densities, virialized velocity structures, and star formation histories that accelerate towards the present, but extend multiple free-fall times into the past. In this paper, we examine several proposed scenarios for how such structures might form and evolve, and carry out a Bayesian analysis to test these models against observed distributions of protostellar age, counts of young stellar objects relative to gas, and the overall star formation rate of the Milky Way. We show that models in which the acceleration of star formation is due either to a large-scale collapse or a time-dependent increase in star formation efficiency are unable to satisfy the combined set of observational constraints. In contrast, models in which clusters form in a ‘conveyor belt’ mode where gas accretion and star formation occur simultaneously, but the star formation rate per free-fall time is low, can match the observations.

scholarly journals Three regimes of CO emission in galaxy mergers

2019 ◽  
Vol 621 ◽  
pp. A104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florent Renaud ◽  
Frédéric Bournaud ◽  
Emanuele Daddi ◽  
Axel Weiß
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Conversion Factor ◽  
Star Formation Rate ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Galaxy Mergers ◽  
Isolated Galaxies ◽  
Molecular Masses ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽  
Classical Means ◽  
Large Velocity Gradient

The conversion factor αCO from the observable CO(1-0) luminosity to the mass of molecular gas is known to vary between isolated galaxies and some mergers, but the underlying reasons are not clearly understood. Thus, the value(s) of αCO that are to be adopted remain highly uncertain. To provide better constraints, we applied the large velocity gradient method to a series of hydrodynamical simulations of galaxies and derived the evolution of αCO. We report significant variations of αCO, and identify three distinct regimes: disk galaxies, starbursts, and post-burst phases. We show that estimating the star formation rate over 20Myr smoothes out some of these differences, but still maintains a distinction between disks and starbursts. We find a tighter correlation of αCO with the gas depletion time than with star formation rate, but deviations are induced by the transitions to and from the starburst episodes. We conclude that αCO fluctuates because of both feedback energy and velocity dispersion. Identifying the phase of an interaction by classical means (e.g., morphology or luminosity) could then help to select the relevant conversion factor that is to be used and to obtain more accurate estimates of the molecular masses of galaxies.

scholarly journals The life cycle of the Central Molecular Zone – I. Inflow, star formation, and winds

2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (3) ◽  
pp. 4401-4418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Armillotta ◽  
Mark R Krumholz ◽  
Enrico M Di Teodoro ◽  
N M McClure-Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Star Formation Rate ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Star Formation History ◽  
Galactic Centre ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Stellar Feedback ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations

ABSTRACT We present a study of the gas cycle and star formation history in the central 500 pc of the Milky Way, known as Central Molecular Zone (CMZ). Through hydrodynamical simulations of the inner 4.5 kpc of our Galaxy, we follow the gas cycle in a completely self-consistent way, starting from gas radial inflow due to the Galactic bar, the channelling of this gas into a dense, star-forming ring/stream at ≈200–300 pc from the Galactic centre, and the launching of galactic outflows powered by stellar feedback. We find that star formation activity in the CMZ goes through oscillatory burst/quench cycles, with a period of tens to hundreds of Myr, characterized by roughly constant gas mass but order-of-magnitude level variations in the star formation rate. Comparison with the observed present-day star formation rate of the CMZ suggests that we are currently near a minimum of this cycle. Stellar feedback drives a mainly two-phase wind off the Galactic disc. The warm phase dominates the mass flux, and carries $100\!-\!200{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the gas mass converted into stars. However, most of this gas goes into a fountain and falls back on to the disc rather than escaping the Galaxy. The hot phase carries most of the energy, with a time-averaged energy outflow rate of $10\!-\!20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the supernova energy budget.

scholarly journals Turbulence, feedback, and slow star formation

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (S237) ◽  
pp. 378-383
Author(s):  
Mark R. Krumholz
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Star Formation Rate ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Free Fall ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Striking Result ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Individual Cluster

AbstractOne 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.

scholarly journals Star Formation and the Properties of Giant Molecular Clouds in Global Simulations

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S270) ◽  
pp. 377-380
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Tasker ◽  
Jonathan C. Tan
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Interstellar Medium ◽  
Mass Distribution ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Star Formation Rate ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Type Ii ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds

AbstractWe simulated an isolated quiescent Milky Way-type galaxy with a maximum effective resolution of 7.8 pc. Clouds formed in the interstellar medium through gravitational fragmentation and became the sites for star formation. We tracked the evolution of the clouds through 300 Myr in the presence of star formation, photoelectric heating and feedback from Type II supernovae. The cloud mass distribution agreed well with observational results. Feedback suppressed star formation but did not destroy the surrounding cloud. Collisions between clouds were found to be sufficiently frequent to be a significant factor in determining the star formation rate.

scholarly journals One Hundred 30 Dors?

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S250) ◽  
pp. 307-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Hanson ◽  
B. Popescu
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Star Formation Rate ◽  
Open Cluster ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Mass Function ◽  
Open Clusters ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Massive Clusters ◽  
Image Simulations

AbstractThere are a few ways to estimate the number of massive open clusters expected in the disk of the Milky Way, such as the total star formation rate of the Galaxy, or the open cluster mass function extrapolated to include the entire Galaxy. Surprisingly, they give similar predictions: the Milky Way should contain about 100 clusters as massive as 30 Doradus. Are we seeing them? We look closely at these predictions and compare them to what has been found so far in our Galaxy. We present sophisticated image simulations our group is developing to estimate the selection biases faced by current infrared searches for these massive clusters.

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