Understanding Star Formation: From Local Galaxies to the Very Young  Universe

Stars form in galaxies when dense regions of gas collapse under gravity, igniting nuclear fusion in their cores. We present a  model for understanding  the relationship between gas density and the rate at which stars form in a galaxy. This observational relation is known as the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) and describes how  regions with higher gas density tend to have higher rates of star formation, providing a key framework for studying galactic evolution. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed galaxies with unexpectedly high rates of star formation at very early times, less than a billion years after the Big Bang. . By examining the cosmic histories of these galaxies, we demonstrate how the KS law provides a framework for explaining these elevated star formation rates.