Publications

Many important observational clues about our understanding of how stars and planets form in the interior of molecular clouds have been amassed using recent technological developments. ESO's Very Large Telescope promises to be a major step forward in the investigation of stellar nurseries and infant stars. This volume collects papers from the leaders in this very timely field of astrophysical research. It presents theoretical and a host of observational results and many papers show the plans for future observations.

The rapid advance of computer capabilities over the last two decades has opened up a new field of numerical simulations in which detailed physical models can be made to represent the most complex processes. "Computational Star Formation" reviews the latest techniques and results of numerical simulations relevant to interstellar gas dynamics and star formation. Topics range from dynamics to radiation and visualization, as applied to both local and cosmological problems. This book is ideal for graduate students and researchers in numerical astrophysics.

Scientific topics addressed included: cluster searches, clustered vs. isolated star formation, large-scale star formation, enrichment of the field population, structure, populations and evolution of the Milky Way, cluster dynamics (internal and within the Milky Way), variability of stars in clusters (from time-resolved surveys), analysis techniques for large samples and archiving. This proceedings book provides a snapshot of the ongoing discussion on the role of large surveys in star cluster research, and serves as a reference volume for the state-of-the art in the field.