Star Formation in Molecular Clouds

TL;DR

This paper reviews the complex process of star formation in molecular clouds, emphasizing the roles of turbulence, gravity, and thermodynamics in shaping stellar birth and cluster properties.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive comparison of observational data with theoretical models of star formation, highlighting the dual role of turbulence and the importance of thermodynamics.

Findings

Turbulence supports and promotes local collapse in molecular clouds.

Gravity dominates in dense regions leading to star formation.

Thermodynamics influences the stellar mass function and cluster dynamics.

Abstract

Stars and star clusters form by gravoturbulent fragmentation of interstellar gas clouds. The supersonic turbulence ubiquitously observed in Galactic molecular gas generates strong density fluctuations with gravity taking over in the densest and most massive regions. Collapse sets in to build up stars. Turbulence plays a dual role. On global scales it provides support, while at the same time it can promote local collapse. Stellar birth is thus intimately linked to the dynamical behavior of parental gas cloud, which governs when and where protostars form, and how they contract and grow in mass via accretion from the surrounding cloud material. The thermodynamic behavior of the star forming gas plays a crucial part in this process and influences the stellar mass function as well as the dynamic properties of the nascent stellar cluster. This lecture provides a critical review of our current understand- ing of stellar birth and compares observational data with competing theoretical models.