A galactic-scale origin for stellar clustering

TL;DR

This paper presents a galactic-scale model explaining stellar clustering by linking star formation efficiency to ISM density, successfully matching observations and providing accessible computational tools.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model connecting ISM density spectrum to cluster formation efficiency, with practical routines for galactic-scale predictions.

Findings

Model agrees well with observational data

High-density regions form bound clusters due to high SFE

Low-density regions remain unbound after gas expulsion

Abstract

We recently presented a model for the cluster formation efficiency (CFE), i.e. the fraction of star formation occurring in bound stellar clusters. It utilizes the idea that the formation of stars and stellar clusters occurs across a continuous spectrum of ISM densities. Bound stellar clusters naturally arise from the high-density end of this density spectrum. Due to short free-fall times, these high-density regions can achieve high star formation efficiencies (SFEs) and can be unaffected by gas expulsion. Lower-density regions remain gas-rich and substructured, and are unbound upon gas expulsion. The model enables the CFE to be calculated using galactic-scale observables. I present a brief summary of the model physics, assumptions and caveats, and show that it agrees well with observations. Fortran and IDL routines for calculating the CFE are publicly available at http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/cfe.