Molecular cloud formation and evolution, linking the formation of individual stars to galactic-scale star formation
speaker: Masato Kobayashi
Abstract:
Star formation is one of the main drivers of galaxy evolution, and thus the understanding of star formation processes in various galactic environments is central of understanding the history of the Universe. Molecular clouds host star formation and are the key object to govern the star formation efficiency of galaxies. I will first summarize the current theoretical/observational understanding of molecular cloud formation and evolution. I will then show my numerical simulations to explore the evolution of the density/turbulent structure, to investigate how they control the star formation rate along molecular cloud formation. I will also briefly mention my future plans that I will be working on in NAOJ, which will eventually reveal the connection between the formation of individual stars and galactic-scale star formation, from both theoretical and observational perspectives.