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On the observed diversity of star formation efficiencies in Giant Molecular Clouds

Grisdale, Kearn ; Agertz, Oscar LU ; Renaud, Florent LU ; Romeo, Alessandro B. ; Devriendt, Julien and Slyz, Adrianne (2019) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 486(4). p.5482-5491
Abstract
Observations find a median star formation efficiency per free-fall time in Milky Way Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) of the order of ϵff∼1 per cent with dispersions of ∼0.5dex⁠. The origin of this scatter in ϵff is still debated and difficult to reproduce with analytical models. We track the formation, evolution and destruction of GMCs in a hydrodynamical simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy and by deriving cloud properties in an observationally motivated way, we measure the distribution of star formation efficiencies which are in excellent agreement with observations. We find no significant link between ϵff and any measured global property of GMCs (e.g. gas mass, velocity dispersion). Instead, a wide range of efficiencies exist in the... (More)
Observations find a median star formation efficiency per free-fall time in Milky Way Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) of the order of ϵff∼1 per cent with dispersions of ∼0.5dex⁠. The origin of this scatter in ϵff is still debated and difficult to reproduce with analytical models. We track the formation, evolution and destruction of GMCs in a hydrodynamical simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy and by deriving cloud properties in an observationally motivated way, we measure the distribution of star formation efficiencies which are in excellent agreement with observations. We find no significant link between ϵff and any measured global property of GMCs (e.g. gas mass, velocity dispersion). Instead, a wide range of efficiencies exist in the entire parameter space. From the cloud evolutionary tracks, we find that each cloud follows a unique evolutionary path which gives rise to a wide diversity in all properties. We argue that it is this diversity in cloud properties, above everything else, that results in the dispersion of ϵff. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
ISM: clouds, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: ISM, galaxies: star formation, galaxies:structure, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
volume
486
issue
4
pages
10 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85067944379
ISSN
1365-2966
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stz1201
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
45d74189-fd34-4c41-aa26-b9f48dadf774
date added to LUP
2019-05-21 15:15:20
date last changed
2024-03-03 08:15:25
@article{45d74189-fd34-4c41-aa26-b9f48dadf774,
  abstract     = {{Observations find a median star formation efficiency per free-fall time in Milky Way Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) of the order of ϵff∼1 per cent with dispersions of ∼0.5dex⁠. The origin of this scatter in ϵff is still debated and difficult to reproduce with analytical models. We track the formation, evolution and destruction of GMCs in a hydrodynamical simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy and by deriving cloud properties in an observationally motivated way, we measure the distribution of star formation efficiencies which are in excellent agreement with observations. We find no significant link between ϵff and any measured global property of GMCs (e.g. gas mass, velocity dispersion). Instead, a wide range of efficiencies exist in the entire parameter space. From the cloud evolutionary tracks, we find that each cloud follows a unique evolutionary path which gives rise to a wide diversity in all properties. We argue that it is this diversity in cloud properties, above everything else, that results in the dispersion of ϵff.}},
  author       = {{Grisdale, Kearn and Agertz, Oscar and Renaud, Florent and Romeo, Alessandro B. and Devriendt, Julien and Slyz, Adrianne}},
  issn         = {{1365-2966}},
  keywords     = {{ISM: clouds, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: ISM, galaxies: star formation, galaxies:structure, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{5482--5491}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}},
  title        = {{On the observed diversity of star formation efficiencies in Giant Molecular Clouds}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz1201}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/mnras/stz1201}},
  volume       = {{486}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}