1997/02/26 by R. E. Pudritz, Ralph E. Pudritz, Dean E. McLaughlin +6
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9702232
12 pages with 2 ps figures. Invited review to appear in Computational Astrophysics, Proceedings of the 12th Kingston Meeting, ed. D. A. Clarke and M. J. West (San Francisco: ASP)
arxiv created 1997/02/26 · openalex publication_date 1997/02/26 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Observational advances over the last decade reveal that star formation is associated with the simultaneous presence of gravitationally collapsing gas, bipolar outflow, and an accretion disk. Two theoretical views of star formation suppose that either stellar mass is determined from the outset by gravitational instability, or by the outflow which sweeps away the collapsing envelope of initially singular density distributions. Neither picture appears to explain all of the facts. This contribution examines some of the key issues facing star formation theory.