How do galaxies form stellar nurseries throughout cosmic time?

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.