Numerical simulations of the rate of star formation in external galaxies.
Abstract
Numerical simulations of the rate of star formation in external galaxies are discussed in terms of recent observations. Previously determined dependences of star formation rate on some high power (of the order of 2) of gas density are shown to depend critically on the correlation method generally employed. If the efficiency of converting gas into stars is low, the observed correlations of bright stars and H II regions with neutral hydrogen surface densities are shown to be reasonably consistent with star formation time scales proportional to the inverse square root of the initial local gas density. This form of the dependence on gas density is taken as a direct indication that the dominant mechanism producing stars is regulated by gravitational processes.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- January 1977
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/178.1.1
- Bibcode:
- 1977MNRAS.178....1M
- Keywords:
-
- Digital Simulation;
- Galactic Evolution;
- Gas Density;
- Star Distribution;
- Star Formation;
- Density Distribution;
- Gravitational Effects;
- H Ii Regions;
- Interstellar Gas;
- Neutral Particles;
- Space Density;
- Star Formation Rate;
- Stellar Luminosity;
- Astrophysics