期刊
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
卷 435, 期 3, 页码 2598-2603出版社
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stt1634
关键词
stars: formation; Galaxy: centre; galaxies: ISM; galaxies: starburst; galaxies: star formation
资金
- National Science Foundation [PHY-1066293]
Detailed observations of the nearest star-forming regions in the Milky Way (MW) provide the ultimate benchmark for studying star formation. The extent to which the results of these Galaxy-based studies can be extrapolated to extragalactic systems depends on the overlap of the environmental conditions probed. In this paper, we compare the properties of clouds and star-forming regions in the MW with those in nearby galaxies and in the high-redshift Universe. We find that in terms of their baryonic composition, kinematics and densities, the clouds in the solar neighbourhood are similar to those in nearby galaxies. The clouds and regions in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ, i.e. the inner 250 pc) of the MW are indistinguishable from high-redshift clouds and galaxies. The presently low star formation rate in the CMZ therefore implies that either (1) its gas represents the initial conditions for high-redshift starbursts or (2) some yet unidentified process consistently suppresses star formation over greater than or similar to 10(8) yr time-scales. We conclude that the MW contains large reservoirs of gas with properties directly comparable to most of the known range of star formation environments and is therefore an excellent template for studying star formation across cosmological time-scales.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据