COnnecting LOcal to GLObal star formation via MIni-starburst
2015
To connect local to global star formation, we compare the mass, size, line width, and star formation rate (SFR) density of cloud structures ranging from Galactic clouds ($\sim$1--10~pc in size) to galaxies (with $\sim$1--10~kpc sizes).Our focus is on molecular cloud structures, called massive complexes, which have intermediate sizes of $\sim$100~pc and masses larger than $10^6~\msun$.We propose using a starburstiness quantity $\zeta$ to quantify the star formation intensity of a molecular cloud complex, or how much its SFR deviates from the star formation relations such as Kennicutt and Lada ones. For molecular cloud complex that has $\zeta>3$ , we call it mini-starburst complex, otherwise normal or main-sequence complex. This $\zeta>3$ threshold leads to a SFR threshold. Most complexes can be classified as ministarburst as having $\zeta>3$. We propose that mini-starburst events represent an enhancement of the star formation activity, following dynamic events such as compression, colliding flows, or agglomeration which compress materials within a cloud complex.
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