Star Formation
Star Formation
- Event time: 1:00pm until 2:00pm
- Event date: 31st March 2017
- Speaker: Ralf Klessen (University of Heidelberg)
- Location: Higgs Centre Seminar Room, Room 4305, James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB) James Clerk Maxwell Building Peter Guthrie Tait Road Edinburgh EH9 3FD GB
Event details
Stars and star clusters are the fundamental visible building blocks of galaxies at present days as well as in the early universe. They form by gravitational collapse in regions of high density in the complex multi-phase interstellar medium. The process of stellar birth is controlled by the intricate interplay between the self-gravity of the star-forming gas and various opposing agents, such as supersonic turbulence, magnetic fields, radiative feedback, gas pressure, and cosmic rays. Turbulence plays a dual role. On global scales it provides support, while at the same time it can promote local collapse. This process is modified by the thermodynamic response of the gas, which is determined by the balance between various heating and cooling processes, which in turn depend on the chemical composition of the material. I will review the current status of the field and discuss a few examples of the recent progress in present-day star formation and speculate about the implications for the first and second generation of stars in the universe.
About Higgs Centre colloquia
The Higgs Centre Colloquia are a fortnightly series of talks aimed at a wide-range of topical Theoretical Physics issues..