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SUMMARY:Spiral arms in galaxies and GMC formation - Clare Dobbs (Exeter)
DTSTART:20181108T160000Z
DTEND:20181108T170000Z
UID:TALK111715@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:28811
DESCRIPTION:The mechanisms for forming Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) in ga
 laxies\, and\nthe role of spiral arms on GMC and star formation\, are stil
 l unclear. I will\ndiscuss the different GMC formation mechanisms and pres
 ent evidence from\nnumerical simulations which suggest that GMCs form thro
 ugh a combination of\ncloud-cloud collisions and self gravity. From galaxy
  scale simulations of\nGMC evolution\, I will show that we are able to rep
 roduce the observed\ncharacteristics of GMCs. I will then present results 
 from simulations of\ngalaxies with different types of spiral arms. These f
 ind little dependence\nof the properties of the GMCs on the spiral arm typ
 e\, and only a modest\n(factor of 2) change in the star formation rate. I 
 will again relate this to\nobservational analysis of the role of spiral ar
 ms. Finally I will show\nsimulations designed to model the nearby galaxy M
 33 which reproduce the\nobserved spiral structure remarkably well. A compa
 rison between the\nproperties of the GMCs in the simulated versus real M33
  show very good\nagreement\, but also highlight that different behaviour i
 n the mass spectra\ncan occur purely as a result of the clump-finding algo
 rithm used.
LOCATION:Sackler Lecture Theatre\, IoA (tea at 3:30 pm)
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