Abstract
Galaxies are dissipative systems, and the spatial and time structure of the interstellar medium and young stars is governed by reaction-diffusion equations. The coherent galactic oscillations of star formation self-organized in spiral waves, previously detected by numerical simulations (Seiden, Schulman, Feitzinger, 1982) can be analytically described by the concept of a limit cycle. Analytical work on self-propagating stochastic star formation is also done by Kaufman (1979), Shore (1981, 1982) and Cowie and Rybicki (1982).
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Feitzinger, J.V. (1985). Spiral Structure in Galaxies: Large-Scale Stochastic Self-Organization of Interstellar Matter and Young Stars. In: Van Woerden, H., Allen, R.J., Burton, W.B. (eds) The Milky Way Galaxy. International Astronomical Union, vol 106. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5291-1_111
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5291-1_111
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