We study how the gas reservoir of galaxies—including the Milky Way—gives rise to new stars.
Star formation process is dependent on a large variety of physical forces and processes, such as gravity, turbulence, thermodynamics, magnetic fields, and chemistry. These processes act over a wide range of scales, from scales of the entire galaxy down to individual stars. Therefore, study of star formation is truly a multi-physics, multi-scale field.
The key questions we study are such as: How do different physical processes regulate star formation and determine when and where new stars form? What sets the masses of individual stars? How does the gas collapse accrete onto young stars? How do star clusters form? How is gas—the raw material of new stars—distributed in the Milky Way? How does star formation affect the evolution of galaxies?
Faculty members involved
Per Bjerkeli
- Head of Programme, Physics, Chemistry and Biological Engineering along with Mathematics and Engineering Preparatory Year
Per Bjerkeli
- Head of Programme, Physics, Chemistry and Biological Engineering along with Mathematics and Engineering Preparatory Year
Jouni Kainulainen
- Head of Division, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Jouni Kainulainen
- Head of Division, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Kirsten Knudsen
- Head of Unit, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Kirsten Knudsen
- Head of Unit, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Georgia Virginia Panopoulou
- Assistant Professor, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Georgia Virginia Panopoulou
- Assistant Professor, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Alessandro Romeo
- Associate Professor*, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Alessandro Romeo
- Associate Professor*, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Magnus Thomasson
- Senior Teaching Fellow, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Magnus Thomasson
- Senior Teaching Fellow, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Wouter Vlemmings
- Full Professor, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Wouter Vlemmings
- Full Professor, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Eva Wirström
- Associate Professor, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Eva Wirström
- Associate Professor, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
John H Black
- Professor Emeritus, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
John H Black
- Professor Emeritus, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Physics and Astronomy
Highlighted programs
PROMISE Origins of the Molecular Cloud Structure (ERC Starting Grant, PI Kainulainen)
Young Outflows and Disks with ALMA (YODA) (Co-PI Bjerkeli)
The Origin and Fate of Dust in the Universe (KAW Project Grant, PI Knudsen)