1. Star Formation
- Author
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Kuruwita, Rajika, Tychoniec, Łukasz, and Federrath, Christoph
- Subjects
Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies - Abstract
In this chapter, we will cover how stars form from the stellar nurseries that are giant molecular clouds. We will first review the physical processes that compete to regulate star formation. We then review star formation in turbulent, magnetized molecular clouds and the associated statistics giving rise to the star formation rate and the initial mass function of stars. We then present the protostellar stages in detail from an observational perspective. We will primarily discuss low-mass ($<1.5\msun$) stars. Finally, we examine how multiplicity complicates the single-star formation picture. This chapter will focus on star formation at redshift~0, Comment: This is a pre-print of a chapter for the Encyclopedia of Astrophysics (edited by I. Mandel, section editor F.R.N. Schneider) to be published by Elsevier as a Reference Module. 18 pages, 8 Figures
- Published
- 2024