Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies

Stars form when dense pockets within cold molecular clouds collapse under gravity, a process shaped by competing forces including turbulence, magnetic fields, and radiation pressure that researchers are still working to disentangle. As a collapsing cloud core contracts, it gives rise to a young stellar object surrounded by a rotating accretion disk where dust grains collide and aggregate — potentially seeding the formation of planets — while ongoing astrochemical reactions leave molecular fingerprints that reveal the physical conditions of these early environments. Among the central open questions are how turbulence and magnetic fields together regulate the rate at which molecular clouds convert gas into stars, and how the chemical and physical evolution of protoplanetary disks determines which systems ultimately produce planetary architectures like our own solar system.

Works

160,922

Total citations

2,500,536

Keywords

Star FormationMolecular CloudsProtoplanetary DisksInterstellar DustTurbulenceAstrochemistry