What Sets the Massive Star Formation Rates and Efficiencies of Giant Molecular Clouds?

Galactic star formation scaling relations show increased scatter from kpc to sub-kpc scales. Investigating this scatter may hold important clues to how the star formation process evolves in time and space. Here, we combine different molecular gas tracers, different star formation indicators probing...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2017-06, Vol.841 (2), p.109
Main Authors: Ochsendorf, Bram B., Meixner, Margaret, Roman-Duval, Julia, Rahman, Mubdi, Evans, Neal J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomical models
Astrophysics
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Cloud formation
CLOUDS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COSMIC GASES
Depletion
DISPERSIONS
FORECASTING
Gamma rays
ISM: clouds
MAGELLANIC CLOUDS
MASS
Massive stars
MILKY WAY
Molecular clouds
Molecular gases
MOLECULES
regions
Scattering
SPACE
Star & galaxy formation
Star clusters
STAR EVOLUTION
Star formation
Star formation rate
STARS
Stars & galaxies
stars: formation
stars: massive
Stellar evolution
Tracers
Turbulence
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Galactic star formation scaling relations show increased scatter from kpc to sub-kpc scales. Investigating this scatter may hold important clues to how the star formation process evolves in time and space. Here, we combine different molecular gas tracers, different star formation indicators probing distinct populations of massive stars, and knowledge of the evolutionary state of each star-forming region to derive the star formation properties of ∼150 star-forming complexes over the face of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We find that the rate of massive star formation ramps up when stellar clusters emerge and boost the formation of subsequent generations of massive stars. In addition, we reveal that the star formation efficiency of individual giant molecular clouds (GMCs) declines with increasing cloud gas mass ( ). This trend persists in Galactic star-forming regions and implies higher molecular gas depletion times for larger GMCs. We compare the star formation efficiency per freefall time ( ) with predictions from various widely used analytical star formation models. While these models can produce large dispersions in similar to those in observations, the origin of the model-predicted scatter is inconsistent with observations. Moreover, all models fail to reproduce the observed decline of with increasing in the LMC and the Milky Way. We conclude that analytical star formation models idealizing global turbulence levels and cloud densities and assuming a stationary star formation rate (SFR) are inconsistent with observations from modern data sets tracing massive star formation on individual cloud scales. Instead, we reiterate the importance of local stellar feedback in shaping the properties of GMCs and setting their massive SFR.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/aa704a