event
Thursday 01 Dec 2016: Star formation scales and efficiency in Galactic spiral arms
Dr. David Eden - Liverpool John Moores
Physics, 4th Floor 14:00-15:00
The role of spiral arms in the star-formation process is unclear but the production of a quantitative relationship between changes in the star-formation efficiency, and stellar initial mass function and the star-forming environment, as pertaining to the large-scale Galactic structure, is required as the basis to a predictive model of star formation.
The process of star formation is evolutionary from the atomic gas down to the stars themselves and the stages in between have associated efficiencies, and any changes to these efficiencies on the scales of Galactic structure features would hint at the stage upon which Galactic structure and spiral arms have the strongest effect. By combining the results of other studies and Galaxy-wide surveys, I will discuss each efficiency stage to try and pinpoint the scale at which star formation occurs as a result of a triggering mechanism, whether that be the large-scale structure or local feedback processes.
