Thermal and Dynamical Evolution of a Gaseous Medium and Star Formation in Disk Galaxies

Formation of self-gravitating gas clouds and hence stars in galaxies is a consequence of both thermal and dynamical evolution of a gaseous medium. Using hydrodynamics simulations including cooling and heating explicitly, we follow simultaneously thermal and dynamical evolution of galactic gas disks to study dynamics and structures of galactic spiral shocks with thermal instability and regulation of the star formation rates (SFRs). We first perform one-dimensional simulations in direction perpendicular to spiral arms. The multiphase gas flows across the arm soon achieve a quasi-steady state characterized by transitions from warm to cold phases at the shock and from cold to warm phases in the postshock expansion zone, producing a substantial fraction of intermediate-temperature gas. Next, we allow a vertical degree of freedom to model vertically stratified disks. The shock front experiences unsteady flapping motions, driving a significant amount of random gas motions, and self-gravity promotes formation of bound clouds inside spiral arms. Finally, we include the star formation feedback in both mechanical (due to supernova explosion) and radiative (due to FUV heating by young stars) forms in the absence of spiral arms. At saturation, gravitationally bound clouds form via thermal and gravitational instabilities, which are compensated by disruption via supernova explosions. We find that the FUV heating regulates the SFRs when gas surface density is low, confirming the prediction of the thermal and dynamical equilibrium model of Ostriker et al. (2010) for star formation regulation.