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Turbulence, feedback, and slow star formation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2006

Mark R. Krumholz
Mark R. Krumholz*
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysical Science, Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA email: krumholz@astro.princeton.edu
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Abstract

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One 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.

Keywords

turbulencestars: formationISM: cloudsgalaxies: ISMgalaxies: starburst
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 2 , Symposium S237: Triggered Star Formation in a Turbulent ISM , August 2006 , pp. 378 - 383
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

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