The exciting lives of giant molecular clouds

By C. Dobbs, J. E. Pringle. 2013

144 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present a detailed study of the evolution of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in a galactic disc simulation. We follow individual GMCs (defined in our simulations by a total column density criterion), including their level of star formation, from their formation to dispersal. We find the evolution of GMCs is highly complex, and GMCs cannot be considered as isolated objects. GMCs often form from a combination of smaller clouds and ambient interstellar medium (ISM), and similarly disperse by splitting into a number of smaller clouds and ambient ISM. However some clouds emerge as the result of the disruption of a more massive GMC, rather than from the assembly of smaller clouds. Likewise in some cases, clouds accrete on to more massive clouds rather than disperse. Because of the difficulty of determining a precursor or successor of a given GMC, determining GMC histories and lifetimes is highly non-trivial. Using a definition relating to the continuous evolution of a cloud, we obtain lifetimes typically

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a49eea058edf62b7149df4c3ac520170b34536eb

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

Citations in the corpus

The SILCC project - III. Regulation of star formation and outflows by stellar winds and supernovae (2016, background): “The importance of stellar feedback for the regulation of star formation relative to other processes, such as large-scale shear flows around spiral arms (Dobbs & Pringle 2013), is still a matter of debate.”
THE PdBI ARCSECOND WHIRLPOOL SURVEY (PAWS): ENVIRONMENTAL DEPENDENCE OF GIANT MOLECULAR CLOUD PROPERTIES IN M51 (2014, methodology): “A recent numerical simulation by Dobbs & Pringle (2013) of a two armed spiral galaxy that includes a spiral potential, self-gravity, heating and cooling of the ISM and stellar feedback (see Figure 16) yields mass spectra that are similar to those observed for the spiral arm and inter-arm region of…”
The lifecycle of molecular clouds in nearby star-forming disc galaxies (2019, background): “Analytical and numerical studies predict that the GMC lifecycle likely varies with the galactic environment (e.g. Dobbs & Pringle 2013; Dobbs et al. 2015; Fujimoto et al. 2014; Jeffreson & Kruijssen 2018; Meidt et al. 2018, 2019).”
Dawes Review 4: Spiral Structures in Disc Galaxies (2014, background): “…with self gravity and a multi-phase medium, finding that the intermittency of dense gas entering the spiral potential leads to a non steady state, where the gas spiral arms are neither continuous, nor exhibit a constant offset from the arms (see Figure 18, and e.g. also Dobbs & Pringle 2013).”
The Formation and Destruction of Molecular Clouds and Galactic Star Formation (2015, background): “If the dynamical effects such as shear and tidal stresses contribute to the cloud destruction (e.g., Koda et al. 2009; Dobbs & Pringle 2013), we should modify Td in this equation.”
COMBINED CO AND DUST SCALING RELATIONS OF DEPLETION TIME AND MOLECULAR GAS FRACTIONS WITH COSMIC TIME, SPECIFIC STAR-FORMATION RATE, AND STELLAR MASS (2014, background): “…in massive (10 4 …10 6.5 M ), dusty and dense (n(H2)~10 2 …10 5 cm -3 ), cold (Tgas~10-40 K), ‘giant molecular clouds’ (GMCs) that are near or in virial equilibrium (Solomon et al. 1987, Bolatto et al. 2008, McKee & Ostriker 2007, but see Dobbs, Burkert & Pringle 2011, Dobbs & Pringle 2013).”
The SILCC (SImulating the LifeCycle of molecular Clouds) project – I. Chemical evolution of the supernova-driven ISM (2014, background): “Other clouds are destroyed by largescale dynamical processes in the disc, such as the strong shear flows around spiral arms (see e.g. Dobbs & Pringle 2013).”