This is the astro-ph blog of the Theoretical Modelling of Cosmic Structures group (TMoX) at the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. We are an independent Max-Planck Research Group focusing on the various aspects in the formation and evolution of galaxies. Part of our focus is on the formation and evolution of early-type galaxies, super-massive black holes, the formation of the first structures in the universe and the enrichment history of the Universe. We are theoreticians using analytic modelling as well as numerical simulations in our work.

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17 September 2010

On the star formation rates in molecular clouds

Authors: C. Lada, M. Lombardo, J. Alveshttp; http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.2985

The authors study the correlations between SFR and cloud mass in a sample of 8 molecular cloud complexes (11 clouds). They find that only the mass in the cores of the cloud is tightly linked to the SFR.
Total cloud mass and SFR do not correlate well, with variations which are considerable (more than one order of magnitude in scatter). Instead, the correlation between high-density mass (which is roughly 10 per cent the total one for almost all the objects in the sample) and SFR is linear and quite tight (with a scatter of about 2-3).
The only concern is the following: if the correlation between high-density mass and SFR is so tight, and if the high-density mass is roughly 10 per cent the total one, why is the correlation between total mass and SFR so bad?...

1 comment:

  1. Actually, isn't it obvious that SFR is linked to the high-density gas? The mathematical fit is not obvious at all, though...

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