From Gas to Stars Over Cosmic Time

TL;DR

This paper reviews the dynamic history of star formation over cosmic time, highlighting observational challenges, theoretical modeling difficulties, and future prospects for understanding how stars formed from the early universe to today.

Contribution

It synthesizes current observational and theoretical insights into cosmic star formation history and discusses future observational and simulation advancements.

Findings

Star formation rate density peaked 10 billion years ago.

Observational constraints on early star formation are limited.

Simulations are improving in predicting star formation history.

Abstract

From the time the first stars formed over 13 billion years ago to the present, star formation has had an unexpectedly dynamic history. At first, the star formation rate density increased dramatically, reaching a peak 10 billion years ago more than ten times the present day value. Observations of the initial rise in star formation remain difficult, poorly constraining it. Theoretical modeling has trouble predicting this history because of the difficulty in following the feedback of energy from stellar radiation and supernova explosions into the gas from which further stars form. Observations from the ground and space with the next generation of instruments should reveal the full history of star formation in the universe, while simulations appear poised to accurately predict the observed history.