| Author(s) and Co-Author(s) with Affiliation: Manash Samal(Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380009, India), M. R. Samal(Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380009, India), A. Zavagno(Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, CNES, LAM, 38 rue F. Joliot Curie, F-13388 Marseille Cedex 13, France), Sami Dib(Max-Planck-Institut fur¨ Astronomie, Konigstuhl ¨ 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, German), Davide Elia(Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, INAF, Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, I-00133 Roma, Italy), J. Jose(Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati, Rami Reddy Nagar, Karakambadi Road,), D.K. Ojha(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400005, India) |
| Abstract: Most stars form in cold, dense regions of molecular clouds, called clumps, located within the spiral arms of galaxies. These parsec-sized clumps, driven by strong gravitational collapse, act as star-forming factories. However, the rate and efficiency of gas conversion into stars across different scales of star-forming systems, from clumps to entire galaxies, remain active areas of research. Key questions focus on how the star formation rate (SFR) and star formation efficiency (SFE) depend on factors such as gas mass, mass surface density, and timescales, relationships collectively known as “star formation scaling laws.” In a recent study, we analyzed nearby star-forming clumps in our Galaxy to determine the SFE in dense regions and to explore these scaling laws, particularly the link between star-formation surface density and gas surface density. Our results revealed a median instantaneous SFE of approximately 20% and an SFE per free-fall time of about 13%. The SFE per free-fall time is significantly higher than the commonly cited universal value of 1%. These findings suggest that both SFE and SFE per free-fall time increase in denser regions. In this presentation, I will discuss these results, the limitations of previous estimates, and the relevance of our findings to star and star cluster formation.
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