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Article Contents
- ABSTRACT
- 1.OVERVIEW
- 1.1.Introduction
- 1.2.Definitions and
Conventions
- 1.3.Questions
2.ISM DIAGNOSTICS: GAS AND DUST
2.1.ISM Basics
2.2.Clouds and Their
Structures
2.3.Dust as an ISM Tracer
2.4.Gas Tracers
2.4.1.The Cold Atomic Phase
2.4.2.Molecular Gas
2.4.3.Dense Gas Tracers
2.4.4.Summary
2.5.Mass Functions of Stars,
Clusters, and Gas Structures
3.SFR DIAGNOSTICS: THE IMPACT OF
MULTI-WAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS
3.1.Star Counting and CMD Analysis
3.2.Ultraviolet Continuum
Measurements: The Impact of GALEX
3.3.Emission-Line Tracers
3.4.Infrared Emission: The
Impact of Spitzer and Herschel
3.5.Radio Continuum Emission
3.6.X-ray Emission
3.7.Composite Multi-Wavelength
Tracers
3.8.An Updated Compendium of
Integrated SFR Calibrations
3.9.The Challenge of
Spatially-Resolved Star Formation Rates in Galaxies
4.THE LOCAL PERSPECTIVE: FROM THE
INSIDE LOOKING OUT
4.1.Outline of low-mass star
formation
4.2.Formation of Clusters and
High-mass Stars
4.3.Theoretical Aspects
4.4.Summary Points from the
Local Perspective
5.THE GALACTIC PERSPECTIVE: FROM
THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
5.1.The Milky Way as a
Star-forming Galaxy
5.1.1.Surveys
5.1.2.The Milky Way as a
Whole
5.1.3.Radial Distributions
5.1.4.Non-axisymmetric
Structure
5.2.Demographics of Star-Forming Galaxies Today
5.3.The High-Density Regime: Starbursts
5.4.The Low SFR and Low Density Regimes
6.STAR FORMATION RELATIONS
6.1.The Disk-Averaged Star
Formation Law
6.2.Radial Distributions of
Star Formation and Gas
6.3.The Star Formation Law on
Sub-Kiloparsec Scales
6.4.Local Measurements of Star
Formation Relations
7.TOWARD A SYNTHESIS
7.1.Summary: Clues from
Observations
7.1.1.The Low-density
Regime
7.1.2.The
Intermediate-density Regime
7.1.3.The High-density
Regime
7.1.4.Clues from Studies of
Molecular Clouds
7.2.Some Speculations
7.3.Future Prospects
REFERENCES