Magnetic fields are a key component in star formation theories. Nevertheless, their exact role in the formation of stars is still a matter of debate. The process of angular momentum transportation by the disturbance caused during magnetic field reconnection still needs theoretical formulation in terms of the collapsing cloud’s parameters. The purposes of this study are: to model the critical mass of a magnetized, gravitating and turbulent star forming molecular cloud (MC) and to formulate the momentum carried out by a magnetic field through magnetic field reconnection in terms of the MC’s parameters. By applying theoretical modeling, we show how angular momentum transported via an Alfvén wave can be described in terms of mass, radius and dispersion velocity of a collapsing cloud core and a model equation of the critical mass for a gravitating, turbulent, and magnetized molecular cloud core. The outflow of angular momentum by magnetic fields facilitates the inflow of mass. On the other side, magnetic pressure prevents collapse. Therefore, magnetic fields have a dual purpose in the process of star formation. This momentum outflow triggers the inflow of mass to conserve angular momentum. The results show that Alfvén waves are like a machine that extracts angular momentum from a magnetized collapsing cloud core. Thus the total angular momentum transported by magnetic field at a distance R from the core’s center depends on the size, mass and turbulent velocity dispersion of the collapsing cloud core.

Understanding stellar birth requires observations of the clouds in which they form. These clouds are dense and self-gravitating, and in all existing observations, they are molecular with H2 the dominant species and CO the best available. When the abundances of carbon and oxygen are low compared to hydrogen, and the opacity from dust is also low, as in primeval galaxies and local dwarf irregular galaxies CO forms slowly and is easily destroyed, so it cannot accumulate inside dense clouds. Then we lose our ability to trace the gas in regions of star formation and we lose critical information on the temperatures, densities, and velocities of the material that collapses. I will report on high resolution observations with ALMA of CO clouds in the local group dwarf irregular galaxy WLM, which has a metallicity that is 13% of the solar value and 50% lower than the previous CO detection threshold and the properties derived of very small dense CO clouds mapped..

Studies of molecular clouds have shown that they evolve from turbulent gas and dust to form coherent, dense and connected structures. We have conducted a multi-wavelength study of one such molecular cloud, the Perseus star-forming region, which includes Barnard 1 (B1), Barnard 3(B3), Barnard 5 (B5), NGC 1333, IC 348, L1455 and L1448. The data obtained using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC), Multiple Imaging Photometer (MIPS), the Sub-mm Common User Bolometer Array(SCUBA) and the 2 Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)provides information about the geometric structure of the dust and gas covering large areas around young stellar objects (YSO), dust temperatures, effect of turbulence and processes of molecule formation and their relevance in the chemical and physical evolution of the cloud. This paper presents our first results.