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.
    • Correction
    • Source
    • Cite
    • Save
    • Machine Reading By IdeaReader
    0
    References
    0
    Citations
    NaN
    KQI
    []