Abstract
Although we have known about giant molecular clouds (GMCs) for nearly 25 years, their origin, evolution, and destruction is still poorly understood. Formation mechanisms can be grouped into two general categories; galactic scale processes including global gravitational instabilities of the galactic disk, Jeans-Parker type magnetically regulated instabilities, and spiral density waves, and local processes based on self-propagating star formation or supershell fragmentation (cf. Elmegreen 1994).
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Bally, J. (1997). The Origin and Structure of Molecular Clouds. In: Latter, W.B., Radford, S.J.E., Jewell, P.R., Mangum, J.G., Bally, J. (eds) CO: Twenty-Five Years of Millimeter-Wave Spectroscopy. International Astronomical Union / Union Astronomique Internationale, vol 170. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5414-7_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5414-7_11
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