We propose a simple analytic model to understand when star formation is time-steady versus bursty in galaxies. Recent models explain the observed Kennicutt-Schmidt relation between star formation rate and gas surface densities in galaxies as resulting from a balance between stellar feedback and gravity. We argue that bursty star formation occurs when such an equilibrium cannot be stably sustained, and identify two regimes in which galaxy-scale star formation should be bursty: i) at high redshift (z>~1) for galaxies of all masses, and ii) at low masses (depending on gas fraction) for galaxies at any redshift. At high redshift, characteristic galactic dynamical timescales become too short for supernova feedback to effectively respond to gravitational collapse in galactic discs (an effect recently identified for galactic nuclei), whereas in dwarf galaxies star formation occurs in too few bright star-forming regions to effectively average out. Burstiness is also enhanced at high redshift owing to elevated gas fractions in the early Universe. Our model can thus explain the bursty star formation rates predicted in these regimes by recent high-resolution galaxy formation simulations, as well as the bursty star formation histories observationally-inferred in both local dwarf and high-redshift galaxies. In our model, bursty star formation is associated with particularly strong spatio-temporal clustering of supernovae. Such clustering can promote the formation of galactic winds and our model may thus also explain the much higher wind mass loading factors inferred in high-redshift massive galaxies relative to their z~0 counterparts.
The Pandora project. II: how non-thermal physics drives bursty star formation and temperate mass-loaded outflows in dwarf galaxies
Stanford University（斯坦福大学）；University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）；European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）；SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory（史拉格国家加速器实验室）；The University of Chicago（芝加哥大学）；EPFL（洛桑联邦理工学院）；University of Oxford（牛津大学）；Sorbonne Université（索邦大学）；Univ Lyon1（里昂第一大学）；University of South Carolina（南卡罗来纳大学）
Dark-Matter-Deficient Galaxies from Collisions: A New Probe of Bursty Feedback and Dark Matter Physics
Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台暗物质与空间天文重点实验室）；School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学天文与空间科学学院）
NIRSpec View of the Appearance and Evolution of Balmer Breaks and the Transition from Bursty to Smooth Star Formation Histories from Deep Within the Epoch of Reionization to Cosmic Noon
On bursty star formation during cosmological reionization -- influence on the metal and dust content of low-mass galaxies
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, The University of Western Australia（国际射电天文学研究中心，西澳大学）；Facultad de Físicas, Multidisciplinary Unit for Energy Science, Universidad de Sevilla（塞维利亚大学物理学院，能源科学多学科单元）
JADES: Differing assembly histories of galaxies -- Observational evidence for bursty SFHs and (mini-)quenching in the first billion years of the Universe
Metallicity Gradients in Modern Cosmological Simulations II: The Role of Bursty Versus Smooth Feedback at High-Redshift
University of Virginia（弗吉尼亚大学）；Virginia Institute for Theoretical Astronomy, University of Virginia（弗吉尼亚大学理论天体物理研究所）；Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik（马克斯·普朗克天体物理学研究所）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Philipps Universität Marburg（马尔堡菲利普斯大学）；Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学卡弗里宇宙学研究所）；Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学卡文迪许实验室）
The Prevalence of Bursty Star Formation in Low-Mass Galaxies at z=1-7 from Hα-to-UV Diagnostics
The University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）；MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research（麻省理工学院卡弗里天体物理学与空间研究研究所）；Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（NASA戈达德太空飞行中心天体物理学科学部）；Michigan Institute for Data Science, University of Michigan（密歇根大学密歇根数据科学研究所）；The Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学）；NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory（美国国家光学-红外天文研究实验室）；University College London（伦敦大学学院）；Rochester Institute of Technology（罗切斯特理工学院）；Space Telescope Science Institute（太空望远镜科学研究所）；Harvard University（哈佛大学）；ESA/AURA Space Telescope Science Institute（欧空局/美国大学研究协会太空望远镜科学研究所）；University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）
Ultraviolet Compactness of High-Redshift Galaxies as a Tracer of Early-Stage Gas Infall, Bursty Star Formation, and Offset from the Fundamental Metallicity Relation
The THESAN-ZOOM project: clumpiness of high-redshift galaxies and its connection to bursty star formation
Peking University（北京大学）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University（北京大学 Kavli 天体物理研究所）；Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian（哈佛-史密森尼天体物理中心）；York University（约克大学）；Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam（波茨坦阿诺德·爱因斯坦天文所）；The University of Texas at Dallas（得克萨斯大学达拉斯分校）；University of Pennsylvania（宾夕法尼亚大学）；The University of Tokyo（东京大学）
Stochastic star formation activity of galaxies within the first billion years probed by JWST
Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, CNES, LAM（艾克斯-马赛大学）；Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange（蔚蓝海岸大学，蔚蓝海岸天文台）；Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, CNRS, Sorbonne Université（巴黎天体物理研究所，索邦大学）；Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)（宇宙黎明中心）；Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen（哥本哈根大学尼尔斯·玻尔研究所）；Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva（日内瓦大学天文学系）
Bursty star formation, chemical enrichment, and star cluster formation in numerical analogues of GN-z11
Kobe University（神户大学）；Center for Planetary Science (CPS), Graduate School of Science, Kobe University（神户大学理学研究行星科学中心）；Tohoku University of Community Service and Science（东北社区服务科学大学）；The University of Tokyo（东京大学）；University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）；Waseda University（早稻田大学）
Caught Napping by JWST UNCOVER+MegaScience: Constraining bursty star formation histories and number densities of mini-quenched galaxies at redshifts 4-7
University of Washington（华盛顿大学）；University of Pittsburgh（匹兹堡大学）；University of Colorado, Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校）；University of California, Santa Cruz（加州大学圣克鲁兹分校）；Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）
It's More Complicated Than You Think: A Forward Model to Infer the Recent Star Formation History, Bursty or Not, of Galaxy Populations
The Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学）；Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）；Wesleyan University（卫斯理安大学）；Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学）；Flatiron Institute（平井研究所）
