SCYON Abstract

Received on October 23 2006

Massive Star and Star Cluster Formation

Authors	Jonathan C. Tan
Affiliation	Dept. of Astronomy, University of Florida
Accepted by	Invited paper in Proceedings of IAU Symposium 237, "Triggered Star Formation in a Turbulent ISM", eds. B.G. Elmegreen & J. Palous
Contact	jt@astro.ufl.edu
URL	http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~jt/
Links

Abstract

I review the status of massive star formation theories: accretion from collapsing, massive, turbulent cores; competitive accretion; and stellar collisions. I conclude the observational and theoretical evidence favors the first of these models. I then discuss: the initial conditions of star cluster formation as traced by infrared dark clouds; the cluster formation timescale; and comparison of the initial cluster mass function in different galactic environments.