Star Formation Law in the Milky Way

TL;DR

This study investigates the star formation law in the Milky Way using 3D maps of gas and HII regions, revealing specific power-law relations between star formation rates and different gas phases.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of the Milky Way's star formation law with high-resolution 3D data, quantifying the relation between SFR and various gas densities.

Findings

Star-forming regions are confined to a thin disk with 92 pc thickness.

The volume SFR relates linearly to the surface SFR with a factor of 9.26.

Power-law indices for star formation law are 0.78 for molecular gas and 2.15 for total gas.

Abstract

The Schmidt law (SF law) in the Milky Way was investigated using 3D distribution maps of HII regions, HI and molecular (\Htwo) gases with spatial resolutions of $\sim 1$ kpc in the Galactic plane and a few tens of pc in the vertical direction. HII regions were shown to be distributed in a star-forming (SF) disk with nearly constant vertical full thickness 92 pc in spatial coincidence with the molecular gas disk. The vertically averaged volume star formation rate (SFR) $\rho_{\rm SFR}$ in the SF disk is related to the surface SFR $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ by $\rho_{\rm SFR} /[{\rm M_\odot y^{-1} kpc^{-3}}] =9.26\times \Sigma_{\rm SFR}/[{\rm M_\odot y^{-1} kpc^{-2}}]$. The SF law fitted by a single power law of gas density in the form of $\Sigma_{\rm SFR} \propto \rho_{\rm SFR} \propto \rho_{\rm gas}^\alpha$ and $\propto \Sigma_{\rm gas}^\beta$ showed indices of $\alpha=0.78 \pm 0.05$ for $\rho_{\rm H_2}$ and $2.15 \pm 0.08$ for $\rho_{\rm total}$, and $\beta=1.14\pm 0.23$ for $\Sigma_{\rm total}$, where $\rho$ and $\Sigma$ denote volume and surface densities, respectively. The star formation rate is shown to be directly related to the molecular gas, but indirectly to HI and total gas densities. The dependence of the SF law on the gaseous phase is explained by the phase transition theory between HI and H$_2$ gases.