2001/05/17 by Andreas Burkert, Burkert, Andreas
Chemistry · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Atmospheric Ozone and Climate #FOS: Physical sciences #Spectroscopy and Laser Applications #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0105298
9 pages, 2 figures, conference proceeding. to appear in "Modes of Star Formation", eds. E.K. Grebel and W. Brandner
arxiv created 2001/05/17 · openalex publication_date 2001/05/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Recent progress in the understanding of star formation is summarized. A consistent picture is emerging where molecular clouds form with turbulent velocity fields and clumpy substructure, imprinted already during their formation. The clouds are initially supported by supersonic turbulence which dissipates however within massive clumps on short timescales, of order their local dynamical timescales. As a result, the clumps collapse and fragment into stellar clusters. Subsequent energetic feedback processes by the newly formed stars will change the thermal and kinematical state of the surrounding molecular gas, triggering or suppressing star formation and leading eventually to the disruption of the molecular clouds. More work is required to understand these processes in greater details.