Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-5r2nc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-11T15:43:33.769Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Star Formation Patterns and Hierarchies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2011

C. Charbonnel ,
T. Montmerle  and
B.G. Elmegreen
B.G. Elmegreen*
Affiliation:
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, 1101 Kitchawan Road, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA
*
e-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Star formation occurs in hierarchical patterns in both space and time. Galaxies form large regions on the scale of the interstellar Jeans length and these large regions apparently fragment into giant molecular clouds and cloud cores in a sequence of decreasing size and increasing density. Young stars follow this pattern, producing star complexes on the largest scales, OB associations on smaller scales, and so on down to star clusters and individual stars. Inside each scale and during the lifetime of the cloud on that scale, smaller regions come and go in a hierarchy of time. As a result, cluster positions are correlated with power law functions, and so are their ages. At the lowest level in the hierarchy, clusters are observed to form in pairs. For any hierarchy like this, the efficiency is automatically highest in the densest regions. This high efficiency promotes bound cluster formation. Also for any hierarchy, the mass function of the components is a power law with a slope of around − 2, as observed for clusters.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Astronomical Society Publications Series , Volume 51: Star Formation in the Local Universe – EES2010 , 2011 , pp. 31 - 44
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdel-Hamid, H., Lee, S.-G., & Notni, P., 2003, JKAS, 36, 49
Banfi, M., Rampazzo, R., Chincarini, G., & Henry, R.B.C., 1993, A&A, 280, 373
Barba, R.H., et al., 2009, Ap&SS, 324, 309
Bastian, N., Gieles, M., Ercolano, B., & Gutermuth, R., 2009, MNRAS, 392, 868CrossRef
Battinelli, P., Brandimarti, A., Capuzzo-Dolcetta, R., 1994, A&AS, 104, 379
Begum, A., Chengalur, J.N., & Bharadwaj, S., 2006, MNRAS, 372, L33CrossRef
Bhatia, R.K., & Hatzidimitriou, D., 1988, MNRAS, 230, 215CrossRef
Block, D.L., Puerari, I., Elmegreen, B.G., et al., 2009, ApJ, 694, 115CrossRef
Block, D.L., Puerari, I., Elmegreen, B.G., & Bournaud,, F., 2010, ApJ, 718, L1CrossRef
Bonnell, I.A., & Bate, M.R., 2006, MNRAS, 370, 488CrossRef
Bradley, T.R., Knapen, J.H., Beckman, J.E., & Folkes, S.L., 2006, A&A, 459, L13
Buckalew, B.A., & Kobulnicky, H.A., 2006, AJ, 132, 1061CrossRef
Cartwright, A., & Whitworth, A.P., 2004, MNRAS, 348, 589CrossRef
Dahm, S.E., & Simon, T., 2005, AJ, 129, 829CrossRef
de Grijs, R., Anders, P., Bastian, N., et al., 2003, MNRAS, 343, 1285CrossRef
de Grijs, R., & Anders, P., 2006, MNRAS, 366, 295CrossRef
de la Fuente Marcos, R., & de la Fuente Marcos, C., 2008, ApJ, 672, 342CrossRef
de la Fuente Marcos, R., & de la Fuente Marcos, C., 2009a, ApJ, 700, 436CrossRef
de la Fuente Marcos, R., & de la Fuente Marcos, C., 2009b, A&A, 500, L13
Dieball, A., Müller, H., & Grebel, E.K., 2002, A&A, 391, 547
Dutta, P., Begum, A., Bharadwaj, S., & Chengalur, J.N., 2008, MNRAS, 384, L34CrossRef
Dutta, P., Begum, A., Bharadwaj, S., & Chengalur, J.N., 2009a, MNRAS, 397, L60CrossRef
Dutta, P., Begum, A., Bharadwaj, S., & Chengalur, J.N., 2009b, MNRAS, 398, 887CrossRef
Efremov, Y.N., 1995, AJ, 110, 2757CrossRef
Efremov, Y.N., & Elmegreen, B.G., 1998, MNRAS, 299, 588CrossRef
Eggen, O.J., 1989, Fund. Cosmic Physics, 13, 1
Elias, F., Alfaro, E.J., & Cabrera-Caño, J., 2009, MNRAS, 397, 2CrossRef
Elmegreen, B.G., 2008, ApJ, 672, 1006CrossRef
Elmegreen, B.G., 2010, in Star Clusters: Basic Galactic Building Blocks Throughout Time And Space, ed. de Grijs, R. & Lepine, J. (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press), 3Google Scholar
Elmegreen, B.G., & Elmegreen, D.M., 1983, MNRAS, 203, 31CrossRef
Elmegreen, B.G., & Efremov, Yu.N., 1996, ApJ, 466, 802CrossRef
Elmegreen, B.G., & Efremov, Yu.N., 1997, ApJ, 480, 235
Elmegreen, B.G., Kim, S., & Staveley-Smith, L., 2001, ApJ, 548, 749CrossRef
Elmegreen, B.G., Elmegreen, D.M., & Leitner, S.N., 2003, ApJ, 590, 271CrossRef
Elmegreen, B.G., Elmegreen, D.M., Chandar, R., Whitmore, B., & Regan, M., 2006, ApJ, 644, 879CrossRef
Engargiola, G., Plambeck, R.L., Rosolowsky, E., & Blitz, L., 2003, ApJS, 149, 343CrossRef
Enoch, M.L., et al., 2006, ApJ, 638, 293CrossRef
Feigelson, E.D., Martin, A.L., McNeill, C.J., Broos, P.S., & Garmire, G.P., 2009, AJ, 138, 227CrossRef
Feitzinger, J.V., & Galinski, T., 1987, A&A, 179, 249
Gieles, M., Larsen, S.S., Bastian, N., & Stein, I.T., 2006a, A&A, 450, 129
Gieles, M., Larsen, S.S., & Sheepmaker, R.A., 2006b, A&A, 446, L9
Gieles, M., Bastian, N., & Ercolano, E., 2008, MNRAS, 391, L93CrossRef
Gomez, M., Hartmann, L., Kenyon, S.J., & Hewett, R., 1993, AJ, 105, 1927CrossRef
Guillout, P., Sterzik, M.F., Schmitt, J.H.M.M., et al., 1998, A&A, 334, 540
Gutermuth, R.A., Megeath, S.T., Pipher, J.L., 2005, ApJ, 632, 397CrossRef
Hakobyan, A.A., Petrosian, A.R., Yeghazaryan, A.A., & Boulesteix, J., 2007, Ap, 50, 426
Hatzidimitriou, D., & Bhatia, R.K., 1990, A&A, 230, 11
Hunter, D.A., Elmegreen, B.G., Dupuy, T.J., & Mortonson, M., 2003, AJ, 126, 1836CrossRef
Ivanov, G.R., 2005, Pub. Astr. Soc. Rudjer Boskovic, 5, 75
Johnstone, D., Wilson, C.D., Moriarty-Schieven, G., et al., 2000, 545, 327
Johnstone, D., Fich, M., Mitchell, G.F., & Moriarty-Schieven, G., 2001, ApJ, 559, 307CrossRef
Kennicutt, R.C. Jr., Edgar, B.K., & Hodge, P.W., 1989, ApJ, 337, 761CrossRef
Kharchenko, N.V., Piskunov, A.E., Röser, S., Schilbach, E., & Scholz, R.-D., 2005, A&A, 438, 1163
Larsen, S.S., 2009, A&A, 494, 539PubMed
Larson, R.B., 1973, MNRAS, 161, 133CrossRef
Larson, R.B., 1981, MNRAS, 194, 809CrossRef
Larson, R.B., 1982, MNRAS, 200, 159CrossRef
Larson, R.B., 1991, in Fragmentation of Molecular Clouds and Star Formation, IAU Symposium 147, ed. Falgarone, E., Boulanger, F. & Duvert, G. (Dordrecht: Kluwer), 261CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, R.B., 1995, MNRAS, 272, 213CrossRef
Lin, W., et al., 2003, AJ, 126, 1286CrossRef
Maíz-Apellániz, J., 2001, ApJ, 563, 151CrossRef
Maschberger, Th., Clarke, C.J., Bonnell, I.A., & Kroupa, P., 2010, MNRAS, 404, 1061CrossRef
Montenegro, L., Yuan, C., & Elmegreen, B.G., 1999, ApJ, 520, 592CrossRef
Paladini, R., De Zotti, G., Noriega-Crespo, A., & Carey, S.J., 2009, ApJ, 702, 1036CrossRef
Piskunov, A.E., Kharchenko, N.V., Röser, S., Schilbach, E., & Scholz, R.-D., 2006, A&A, 445, 545 [arXiv:1010.3754]
Price, D.J., Federrath, C., & Brunt, C.M., 2011, ApJ, 721, L21CrossRef
Sánchez, N., & Alfaro, E.J., 2008, ApJS, 178 1CrossRef
Sánchez, N., & Alfaro, E.J., 2009, ApJ, 696, 2086CrossRef
Scalo, J.S., 1985, in Protostars and Planets II, ed. Black, D.C & Matthews, M.S. (Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press), 201Google Scholar
Scalo, J., 1990, in Physical Processes in Fragmentation and Star Formation, ed. Capuzzo-Dolcetta, R., Chiosi, C. & Di Fazio, A. (Dordrecht: Kluwer), 151CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheepmaker, R.A., Lamers, H.J.G.L.M., Anders, P., & Larsen, S.S., 2009, A&A, 494, 81
Schmeja, S., Kumar, M.S.N., & Ferreira, B., 2008, MNRAS, 389, 1209CrossRef
Smith, M.D., Gredel, R., Khanzadyan, T., et al., 2005, MmSAI, 76, 247
Stanimirovic, S., Staveley-Smith, L., Dickey, J.M., Sault, R.J., & Snowden, S.L., 1999, MNRAS, 302, 417CrossRef
Stanimirovic, S., Staveley-Smith, L., van der Hulst, J.M., et al., 2000, MNRAS, 315, 791CrossRef
Vazquez-Semadeni, E., 1994, ApJ, 423, 681CrossRef
Willett, K.W., Elmegreen, B.G., & Hunter, D.A., 2005, AJ, 129, 2186CrossRef
Young, K.E., et al., 2006, ApJ, 644, 326CrossRef
Zaritsky, D., Gonzalez, A.H., & Zabludoff, A.I., 2004, ApJ, 613, L93CrossRef
Zhang, Q., & Fall, S.M., 1999, ApJ, 527, L81CrossRef
Zhang, Q., Fall, S.M., & Whitmore, B.C., 2001, ApJ, 561, 727CrossRef