Accretion-regulated star formation in late-type galaxies
arXiv:1011.2758
Abstract
We develop a four-phase galaxy evolution model in order to study the effect of accretion of extra-galactic gas on the star formation rate (SFR) of a galaxy. Pure self-regulated star formation of isolated galaxies is replaced by an accretion-regulated star formation mode. The SFR settles into an equlibrium determined entirely by the gas accretion rate on a Gyr time scale.
To appear in "UP: Have Observations Revealed a Variable Upper End of the Initial Mass Function?", Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series