How do galaxies form stellar nurseries throughout cosmic time?

恒星在星系中由分子气体组成的致密云中形成，但这些云的形成和其中的恒星如何依赖于星系内的条件仍然是未知的。在螺旋星系中，在致密的旋臂中形成的云是否比旋臂之间的区域更有效地形成恒星？由超新星主导的小型不规则星系中的分子云与螺旋星系中的分子云一样吗？在恒星形成时有更多能量反馈的恒星爆发星系中，这一切是如何变化的？这些问题对于早期宇宙时代的星系尤其重要，因为这些星系可能与我们现在的银河系截然不同。在这个项目中，我们将使用突破性的高分辨率模拟星系中的分子气体如何演化来回答这些问题，并研究在银河系以外的其他星系中恒星形成可能是如何进行的。我们将改变银河系势能、气体表面密度、恒星反馈和气体中化学冷却剂的丰度等数量，以检查恒星形成在其他环境中可能会有什么不同，例如在早期宇宙时间发现的环境。

Stars form in dense clouds of molecular gas in galaxies, but how the formation of these clouds and the stars within them depend on conditions within the galaxy is still unknown. In spiral galaxies, are clouds formed in the dense spiral arms more efficient at making stars, than in regions between the arms? Are molecular clouds the same in small irregular galaxies dominated by supernovae as in spiral galaxies? How does all this change in starburst galaxies where there is more energetic feedback from the forming stars? These questions are particularly important for galaxies at earlier cosmic times which are likely to be quite different to our current Milky Way.In this project we will use ground-breaking high-resolution simulations of how molecular gas evolves in galaxies to answer these questions, and investigate how star formation may proceed in other galaxies beyond our Milky Way. We will vary quantities such as the galactic potential, gas surface density, stellar feedback and abundance of chemical coolants in the gas, to examine how star formation may differ in other environments such as those found at earlier cosmic times.