MHD turbulence-Star Formation Connection: from pc to kpc scales

Abstract

The transport of magnetic flux to outside of collapsing molecular clouds is a required step to allow the formation of stars. Although ambipolar diffusion is often regarded as a key mechanism for that, it has been recently argued that it may not be efficient enough. In this review, we discuss the role that MHD turbulence plays in the transport of magnetic flux in star forming flows. In particular, based on recent advances in the theory of fast magnetic reconnection in turbulent flows, we will show results of three-dimensional numerical simulations that indicate that the diffusion of magnetic field induced by turbulent reconnection can be a very efficient mechanism, especially in the early stages of cloud collapse and star formation. To conclude, we will also briefly discuss the turbulence-star formation connection and feedback in different astrophysical environments: from galactic to cluster of galaxy scales.

6 pages, 5 figures, 274 IAU Symposium: Advances in Plasma Astrophysics

References in corpus (10)

• Theory of Star Formation
• Numerical Tests of Fast Reconnection in Weakly Stochastic Magnetic Fields
• Density Fluctuations in MHD Turbulence: Spectra, Intermittency and Topology
• Magnetic support of the optical emission line filaments in NGC 1275
• Gravitational collapse of magnetized clouds II. The role of Ohmic dissipation
• Diffusion of magnetic field and removal of magnetic flux from clouds via turbulent reconnection
• Disk Formation Enabled by Enhanced Resistivity
• Precessing jets and X-ray bubbles from NGC1275 (3C84) in the Perseus galaxy cluster: a view from 3D numerical simulations
• Hydrodynamical simulations of Galactic fountains I: evolution of single fountains
• Turbulence and the formation of filaments, loops and shock fronts in NGC 1275 in the Perseus Galaxy Cluster