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The effect of spiral arms on star formation in the Galaxy

Moore, T.J.T., Urquhart, J.S., Morgan, L.K., Thompson, M.A. (2012) The effect of spiral arms on star formation in the Galaxy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 426 (1). pp. 701-707. ISSN 0035-8711. (doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21740.x) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:52209)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21740.x

Abstract

We have examined the ratio between the integrated luminosity of massive young stellar objects detected by the Red MSX Source (RMS) survey and the mass of molecular clouds in the Galactic Ring Survey (GRS) region, as a function of Galactocentric radius. The results indicate that 60-80per cent of the observed increases in the star formation rate density associated with spiral-arm features are due to source crowding within the arms. Of the remainder, most of the increase in the inner Sagittarius arm is due to an enhancement in the simple star formation efficiency, i.e. in the number of RMS sources per unit molecular gas mass. In the inner Perseus arm, the residual increase is due to a higher than average mean source luminosity, which implies a top-heavy initial mass function, and this is entirely due to the presence, in the GRS region, of the W49 star-forming complex, which appears to be exceptional in its nature. The results also suggest that there is little or no increase in the star formation efficiency on kiloparsec scales in the Scutum tangent region which includes W43. We discuss the possible role played by the spiral arms in influencing the star formation efficiency and conclude that the most likely mechanisms are related to orbit crowding within the arms. © 2012 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2012 RAS.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21740.x
Additional information: Unmapped bibliographic data: LA - English [Field not mapped to EPrints] J2 - Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Twelve Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead CH41 1LD, United Kingdom [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, PO Box 76, Epping, NSW, 1710, Australia [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, Bonn, 53121, Germany [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Centre for Astrophysics Research, Science and Technology Research Institute, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, Herts, United Kingdom [Field not mapped to EPrints] DB - Scopus [Field not mapped to EPrints]
Uncontrolled keywords: Clouds, Formation, Galaxy, ISM, Stars, Structure
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy > QB460 Astrophysics
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: James Urquhart
Date Deposited: 30 Nov 2015 15:04 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:21 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/52209 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)
Urquhart, J.S.: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1605-8050
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