A universal, turbulence-regulated, multi-freefall star formation law

Christoph Federrath; Diane M. Salim; Lisa J. Kewley

doi:10.1017/S1743921316006633

A universal, turbulence-regulated, multi-freefall star formation law

Christoph Federrath^*, Diane M. Salim, Lisa J. Kewley

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We develop a new star formation (SF) law based on the density PDF of turbulence and on the multi-freefall concept of gas collapse. We derive a relation where the star formation rate (SFR) correlates with the molecular gas mass per multi-freefall time, whereas previous models had used the average, single-freefall time. We define a new quantity called maximum (multi-freefall) gas consumption rate (MGCR) and show that the actual SFR is only about 0.4% of this maximum possible SFR, confirming the observed low efficiency of star formation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	740
Number of pages	1
Journal	Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Volume	11
Issue number	A29B
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921316006633
Publication status	Published - 2015

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title = "A universal, turbulence-regulated, multi-freefall star formation law",

abstract = "We develop a new star formation (SF) law based on the density PDF of turbulence and on the multi-freefall concept of gas collapse. We derive a relation where the star formation rate (SFR) correlates with the molecular gas mass per multi-freefall time, whereas previous models had used the average, single-freefall time. We define a new quantity called maximum (multi-freefall) gas consumption rate (MGCR) and show that the actual SFR is only about 0.4\% of this maximum possible SFR, confirming the observed low efficiency of star formation.",

keywords = "galaxies: ISM, galaxies: high-redshift, galaxies: starburst, stars: formation",

author = "Christoph Federrath and Salim, \{Diane M.\} and Kewley, \{Lisa J.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} International Astronomical Union 2016.",

year = "2015",

doi = "10.1017/S1743921316006633",

language = "English",

volume = "11",

pages = "740",

journal = "Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union",

issn = "1743-9213",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - A universal, turbulence-regulated, multi-freefall star formation law

AU - Federrath, Christoph

AU - Salim, Diane M.

AU - Kewley, Lisa J.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © International Astronomical Union 2016.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - We develop a new star formation (SF) law based on the density PDF of turbulence and on the multi-freefall concept of gas collapse. We derive a relation where the star formation rate (SFR) correlates with the molecular gas mass per multi-freefall time, whereas previous models had used the average, single-freefall time. We define a new quantity called maximum (multi-freefall) gas consumption rate (MGCR) and show that the actual SFR is only about 0.4% of this maximum possible SFR, confirming the observed low efficiency of star formation.

AB - We develop a new star formation (SF) law based on the density PDF of turbulence and on the multi-freefall concept of gas collapse. We derive a relation where the star formation rate (SFR) correlates with the molecular gas mass per multi-freefall time, whereas previous models had used the average, single-freefall time. We define a new quantity called maximum (multi-freefall) gas consumption rate (MGCR) and show that the actual SFR is only about 0.4% of this maximum possible SFR, confirming the observed low efficiency of star formation.

KW - galaxies: ISM

KW - galaxies: high-redshift

KW - galaxies: starburst

KW - stars: formation

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84992642868

U2 - 10.1017/S1743921316006633

DO - 10.1017/S1743921316006633

M3 - Article

SN - 1743-9213

VL - 11

SP - 740

JO - Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

JF - Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

IS - A29B

ER -

A universal, turbulence-regulated, multi-freefall star formation law

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