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dc.contributor.authorBonnell, Ian Alexander
dc.contributor.authorDobbs, Clare L.
dc.contributor.authorSmith, Rowan J.
dc.date.accessioned2014-08-13T09:31:01Z
dc.date.available2014-08-13T09:31:01Z
dc.date.issued2013-04-11
dc.identifier.citationBonnell , I A , Dobbs , C L & Smith , R J 2013 , ' Shocks, cooling and the origin of star formation rates in spiral galaxies ' , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , vol. 430 , no. 3 , pp. 1790-1800 . https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt004en
dc.identifier.issn0035-8711
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 24987512
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: 33e5023d-34aa-407d-a299-4a4d09202f4d
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 84876791122
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/5131
dc.descriptionIAB acknowledges funding from the European Research Council for the FP7 ERC advanced grant project ECOGAL. CLD acknowledges funding from the European Research Council for the FP7 ERC starting grant project LOCALSTAR. RJS acknowledges support for grant SM321/1-1 from the DFG Priority Program 1573, ‘The Physics of the Interstellar Medium’.en
dc.description.abstractUnderstanding star formation is problematic as it originates in the large-scale dynamics of a galaxy but occurs on the small scale of an individual star-forming event. This paper presents the first numerical simulations to resolve the star formation process on sub-parsec scales, whilst also following the dynamics of the interstellar medium (ISM) on galactic scales. In these models, the warm low-density ISM gas flows into the spiral arms where orbit crowding produces the shock formation of dense clouds, held together temporarily by their external pressure. Cooling allows the gas to be compressed to sufficiently high densities that local regions collapse under their own gravity and form stars. The star formation rates follow a Schmidt–Kennicutt ΣSFR∝Σ1.4gas type relation with the local surface density of gas while following a linear relation with the cold and dense gas. Cooling is the primary driver of star formation and the star formation rates as it determines the amount of cold gas available for gravitational collapse. The star formation rates found in the simulations are offset to higher values relative to the extragalactic values, implying a constant reduction, such as from feedback or magnetic fields, is likely to be required. Intriguingly, it appears that a spiral or other convergent shock and the accompanying thermal instability can explain how star formation is triggered, generate the physical conditions of molecular clouds and explain why star formation rates are tightly correlated to the gas properties of galaxies.
dc.format.extent11
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societyen
dc.rightsCopyright, 2013 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Societyen
dc.subjectStars: formationen
dc.subjectGalaxies: star formationen
dc.subjectGalaxies: evolutionen
dc.subjectISM: kinematics and dynamicsen
dc.subjectISM: cloudsen
dc.subjectQB Astronomyen
dc.subject.lccQBen
dc.titleShocks, cooling and the origin of star formation rates in spiral galaxiesen
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.contributor.sponsorScience & Technology Facilities Councilen
dc.contributor.sponsorEuropean Research Councilen
dc.description.versionPublisher PDFen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of Physics and Astronomyen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt004
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.identifier.grantnumberST/J001651/1en
dc.identifier.grantnumberen


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