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The Formation and Destruction of Molecular Clouds and Galactic Star Formation

Part of: IAU Issue 315 - From Interstellar Clouds...

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2016

Shu-ichiro Inutsuka ,
Tsuyoshi Inoue ,
Kazunari Iwasaki ,
Takashi Hosokawa  and
Masato I. N. Kobayashi
Shu-ichiro Inutsuka
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan, email: inutsuka@nagoya-u.jp
Tsuyoshi Inoue
Affiliation:
Division of Theoretical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
Kazunari Iwasaki
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Systems Science, Doshisha University Tatara Miyakodani 1-3, Kyotanabe City, Kyoto 610-0394, Japan
Takashi Hosokawa
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Research Center for the Early UniverseThe University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
Masato I. N. Kobayashi
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan, email: inutsuka@nagoya-u.jp
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Abstract

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We discuss an overall picture of star formation in the Galaxy. Recent high-resolution magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of two-fluid dynamics with cooling/heating and thermal conduction have shown that the formation of molecular clouds requires multiple episodes of supersonic compression. This finding enables us to create a new scenario of molecular cloud formation through interacting shells or bubbles on galactic scales. We estimate the ensemble-averaged growth rate of individual molecular clouds, and predict the associated cloud mass function. This picture naturally explains the accelerated star formation over many million years that was previously reported by stellar age determination in nearby star forming regions. The recent claim of cloud-cloud collisions as a mechanism for forming massive stars and star clusters can be naturally accommodated in this scenario. This explains why massive stars formed in cloud-cloud collisions follows the power-law slope of the mass function of molecular cloud cores repeatedly found in low-mass star forming regions.

Keywords

stars: formation – ISM: clouds – ISM: bubbles – ISM: magnetic fields – ISM: structure – ISM: kinematics and dynamics
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 11 , Symposium S315: From Interstellar Clouds to Star-Forming Galaxies: Universal Processes? , August 2015 , pp. 61 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2016 

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