# Kiloparsec-Scale Simulations of Star Formation in Disk Galaxies. IV. Regulation of Galactic Star Formation Rates by Stellar Feedback

## TL;DR

This study uses detailed simulations of galactic disk regions to evaluate how different stellar feedback mechanisms regulate star formation rates, finding that H2-dissociating feedback is most influential and that combined feedback models match observations well.

## Contribution

It introduces a multi-mechanism feedback simulation approach that accurately reproduces observed star formation rates without fine-tuning, highlighting the dominant role of H2-dissociating photons.

## Key findings

- H2-dissociating feedback significantly reduces star formation.
- Photoionization feedback provides additional moderation.
- Combined feedback models align with observed star formation rates.

## Abstract

Star formation from the interstellar medium of galactic disks is a basic process controlling the evolution of galaxies. Understanding the star formation rate in a local patch of a disk with a given gas mass is thus an important challenge for theoretical models. Here we simulate a kiloparsec region of a disk, following the evolution of self-gravitating molecular clouds down to subparsec scales, as they form stars that then inject feedback energy by dissociating and ionizing UV photons and supernova explosions. We assess the relative importance of each feedback mechanism. We find that $\rm H_2$-dissociating feedback results in the largest absolute reduction in star formation compared to the run with no feedback. Subsequently adding photoionization feedback produces a more modest reduction. Our fiducial models that combine all three feedback mechanisms yield, without fine-tuning, star formation rates that are in excellent agreement with observations, with $\rm H_2$-dissociating photons playing a crucial role. Models that only include supernova feedback---a common method in galaxy evolution simulations---settle to similar star formation rates, but with very different temperature and chemical states of the gas, and with very different spatial distributions of young stars.