skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Search for: All records

Creators/Authors contains: "Grudíc, Michael Y"

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

  1. Dense gas in molecular clouds is an important signature of ongoing and future star formation. We identify and track dense cores in the Starforge simulations, following the core evolution from birth through dispersal by stellar feedback for typical Milky Way cloud conditions. Only ∼8% of cores host protostars, and most disperse before forming stars. The median starless and protostellar core lifetimes are ∼0.5–0.6 Myr and ∼0.8–1.1 Myr, respectively, where the protostellar phase lasts 0.1 Myr. While core evolution is stochastic, we find that virial ratios and line widths decline in prestellar cores, coincident with turbulent decay. Collapse occurs over ∼0.1 Myr, once the central density exceeds ≳106cm−3. Starless cores, only, follow line-width–size and mass–size relations,σ∝R0.3andM∝R1. The core median mass, radius, and velocity dispersion scale weakly with the cloud magnetic field strength. We cluster the core properties and find that protostellar cores have >80% likelihood of belonging to three particular groups that are characterized by high central densities, compact radii, and lower virial parameters. Overall, core evolution appears to be universally set by the interplay of gravity and magnetized turbulence, while stellar feedback dictates protostellar core properties and sets the protostellar phase lifetime. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available March 25, 2026