Mueller and Arnett proposed a stochastic self-propagating version of this process in order to explain flocculent structures, 
Mueller and Arnett proposed a stochastic self-propagating version of this process in order to explain flocculent structures, and the Butcher-Oemler effect implies that this process occurs more often in older objects because said objects are bluer. The rate of this process, along with the present-day mass function, is used to infer the initial mass function. It can be triggered when neutral particles decouple from plasma in a process called ambipolar diffusion. The Bonnor-Ebert mass generalizes a quantity important for understanding this process by considering an external pressure. The collision of ejected material from this process with the ISM creates Herbig-Haro objects, and this process occurs in hot cores located within GMCs and within Bok globules. The substrate for this process undergoes an isothermal free-fall phase when a molecular cloud expands beyond a threshold radius called the Jeans length. T-tauri objects are early products of this process, which then begin fusing hydrogen. For 10 points, name this process which occurs in stellar nurseries.
Mueller and Arnett proposed a stochastic self-propagating version of this process in order to explain flocculent structures, and the Butcher-Oemler effect implies that this process occurs more often in older objects because said objects are bluer.
star formation