The star formation process in the Magellanic Clouds

M. Oliveira, J.

Abstract

The Magellanic Clouds offer unique opportunities to study star formation both on the global scales of an interacting system of gas-rich galaxies, as well as on the scales of individual star-forming clouds. The interstellar media of the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds and their connecting bridge, span a range in (low) metallicities and gas density. This allows us to study star formation near the critical density and gain an understanding of how tidal dwarfs might form; the low metallicity of the SMC in particular is typical of galaxies during the early phases of their assembly, and studies of star formation in the SMC provide a stepping stone to understand star formation at high redshift where these processes can not be directly observed. In this review, I introduce the different environments encountered in the Magellanic System and compare these with the Schmidt-Kennicutt law and the predicted efficiencies of various chemo-physical processes. I then concentrate on three aspects that are of particular importance: the chemistry of the embedded stages of star formation, the Initial Mass Function, and feedback effects from massive stars and its ability to trigger further star formation.

Citation

M. Oliveira, J. (2008). The star formation process in the Magellanic Clouds. Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921308028457

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jul 1, 2008
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2008
• Deposit Date: Jul 7, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 7, 2023
• Journal: Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
• Print ISSN: 1743-9213
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-9221
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921308028457
• Keywords: Astrophysics