Hunting for the key parameters of star formation
Adrianne Slyz (Oxford)
As a first step to a more complete understanding of star formation
in the interstellar medium (ISM), we have performed hydrodynamical
simulations of a kilo-parsec scale, periodic, highly supersonic and
"turbulent" three-dimensional flow. Using simple but physically
motivated recipes for identifying star forming regions, we convert gas
into stars which we follow self-consistently as they impact their
surroundings through supernovae and stellar winds. We investigate how
various processes (turbulence, radiative cooling, self-gravity, and
supernovae feedback) structure the ISM, determine its energetics,
and consequently affect its star formation rate (SFR).
We find that we can parameterize the SFR by three quantities:
the porosity, gas velocity dispersion, and gas density. In addition we
find that algorithms that use a gas density criterion to determine sites
of supernovae explosions give dramatically different results from
those which self-consistently determine supernovae events from the true
locations of star particles.