Cooling, Gravity and Geometry: Flow-Driven Molecular Cloud Formation
The structural richness of molecular clouds and their observe linewidths indicate that they are highly dynamical. Observations suggest that in the solar neighborhood, star formation in molecular cloud is generally "rapid". This seems to be at variance with models of long-lived molecular clouds involving turbulence-controlled, "slow" star formation. A solution to this conundrum requires understanding the initial conditions of star formation in a broader frame, i.e. a closer look at the details of molecular cloud formation is necessary. A new series of numerical experiments is beginning to bridge the gap between molecular cloud and star formation. I will discuss these experiments and their observable predictions.