Star formation rates and the far-infrared luminosity of Galactic molecular clouds
The CO luminosity, far-IR luminosity, and virial mass of 55 molecular clouds are determined and related to star formation rates (SFRs) in the clouds. The SFR of OB stars per unit of available molecular mass is found to be independent of cloud mass and varies widely over a range of about 100 for clouds of mass between 30,000 and five million solar masses. The far-IR luminosity is proportional to the first power of the CO luminosity for clouds undergoing high-mass star formation. There are massive clouds without any current high-mass star formation. The average gas depletion time is about 2.5 billion yr. The far-IR luminosity-to-mass ratio for isolated or weakly interacting spiral galaxies observed by IRAS is twice that for the average Galactic molecular cloud. The star formation mechanism operating in strongly interacting galaxies is five times more efficient than that of the most active Galactic cloud and 30 times that of the average Galactic cloud. 20 references.
- Research Organization:
- New York State Univ., Stony Brook (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6533982
- Journal Information:
- Astrophys. J.; (United States), Vol. 334
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
COSMIC GASES
MILKY WAY
STAR EVOLUTION
CARBON MONOXIDE
FAR INFRARED RADIATION
GALAXIES
GRAVITATIONAL INTERACTIONS
LUMINOSITY
MASS
MOLECULES
SPIRAL CONFIGURATION
VIRIAL THEOREM
BASIC INTERACTIONS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CONFIGURATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FLUIDS
GASES
INFRARED RADIATION
INTERACTIONS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
SPACE
640105* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Galaxies