An uncertainty principle for star formation - I. Why galactic star formation relations break down below a certain spatial scale
By D. Kruijssen, S. Longmore. 2014
148 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Galactic scaling relations between the (surface densities of) the gas mass and the star formation (SF) rate are known to develop substantial scatter or even change form when considered below a certain spatial scale. We quantify how this behaviour should be expected due to the incomplete statistical sampling of independent star-forming regions. Other included limiting factors are the incomplete sampling of SF tracers from the stellar initial mass function and the spatial drift between gas and stars. We present a simple uncertainty principle for SF, which can be used to predict and interpret the failure of galactic SF relations on small spatial scales. This uncertainty principle explains how the scatter of SF relations depends on the spatial scale and predicts a scale-dependent bias of the gas depletion time-scale when centring an aperture on gas or SF tracer peaks. We show how the scatter and bias are sensitive to the physical size and time-scales involved in the SF process (such as its duration or the molecular cloud lifetime), and illustrate how our formalism provides a powerful tool to constrain these largely unknown quantities. Thanks to its general form, the uncertainty principle can also be applied to other astrophysical systems, e.g. addressing the time evolution of star-forming cores, protoplanetary discs or galaxies and their nuclei.
Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b8a7ccb7f350afb1ae1310ef2c1eb56b79aec9e6
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In Astronomy and Astrophysics
Citations in the corpus
- Star formation rates and efficiencies in the Galactic Centre (2017, methodology): “These relations are based on the assumption that high-mass YSOs classified as having ages in the range ∼0.1–5 Myr (see Section 3.2), are still heavily embedded within their parent molecular clouds when they first reach the zero age main sequence (ZAMS).”
- The SILCC (SImulating the LifeCycle of molecular Clouds) project - II. Dynamical evolution of the supernova-driven ISM and the launching of outflows (2015, background): “Locally, the KS relation breaks down, which is expected because individual star-forming complexes together with their temporal evolution need to be considered (see also Kruijssen & Longmore 2014).”
- The lifecycle of molecular clouds in nearby star-forming disc galaxies (2019, methodology): “We employ the multi-scale, multi-wavelength statistical method presented in Kruijssen & Longmore (2014) and Kruijssen et al. (2018) to measure the molecular cloud lifetime and the feedback time-scale, which are critical for constraining the physical processes regulating star formation at the cloud…”
- The dynamical evolution of molecular clouds near the Galactic Centre - I. Orbital structure and evolutionary timeline (2014, background): “…physics of star formation (e.g. Bigiel et al. 2008; Heiderman et al. 2010; Lada, Lombardi & Alves 2010; Schruba et al. 2010; Gutermuth et al. 2011; Hopkins, Quataert & Murray 2011; Krumholz, Dekel & McKee 2012; Burkert & Hartmann 2013; Kruijssen & Longmore 2014), but the problem is far from solved.”
- Cool outflows in galaxies and their implications (2020, background): “…increasing specific star formation rates, both spatially integrated (Ṁ∗/M∗; Saintonge et al. 2011) and spatially resolved (ΣSFR/Σ∗; Ellison et al. 2019), and there is considerable scatter on scales below ∼100 Cool outflows in galaxies 7 pc (Kennicutt and Evans 2012; Kruijssen and Longmore 2014).”