Star formation in Galactic flows

TL;DR

This study uses SPH simulations to explore how large-scale Galactic flows and shocks trigger star formation by compressing gas into dense, self-gravitating cores, revealing the physical conditions and efficiencies involved.

Contribution

It demonstrates the role of Galactic-scale flows and shocks in initiating star formation and provides detailed insights into the density thresholds and timescales involved.

Findings

Large-scale Galactic flows create shocks that compress gas and form dense clouds.

Star formation persists over 5 Myr with a rate of approximately 0.1 solar masses per year per kpc².

Star formation efficiency varies from near 100% at high densities to less than 0.001 at low densities.

Abstract

We investigate the triggering of star formation in clouds that form in Galactic scale flows as the ISM passes through spiral shocks. We use the Lagrangian nature of SPH simulations to trace how the star forming gas is gathered into self-gravitating cores that collapse to form stars. Large scale flows that arise due to Galactic dynamics create shocks of order 30 km/s that compress the gas and form dense clouds $(n> $several $\times 10^2$ cm$^{-3}$) in which self-gravity becomes relevant. These large-scale flows are necessary for creating the dense physical conditions for gravitational collapse and star formation. Local gravitational collapse requires densities in excess of $n>10^3$ cm$^{-3}$ which occur on size scales of $\approx 1$ pc for low-mass star forming regions ($M<100 M_{\odot}$), and up to sizes approaching 10 pc for higher-mass regions ($M>10^3 M_{\odot}$). Star formation in the 250 pc region lasts throughout the 5 Myr timescale of the simulation with a star formation rate of $\approx 10^{-1} M_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-2}$. In the absence of feedback, the efficiency of the star formation per free-fall time varies from our assumed 100 % at our sink accretion radius to values of $< 10^{-3}$ at low densities.