Bibcode
                                    
                            DOI
                                    
                            Franco, Jose; Shore, Steven N.; Tenorio-Tagle, Guillermo
    Bibliographical reference
                                    Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 436, no. 2, p. 795-799
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                        12
            
                        1994
            
  Journal
                                    
                            Citations
                                    101
                            Refereed citations
                                    84
                            Description
                                    Assuming that photoionization is the self-limiting process for continued
star formation, we estimate the maximum number of massive (OB) stars
that can form within a molecular cloud. The most efficient cloud
destruction mechanism in the early stages of H II region evolution is
the evaporation of the cloud by stars located near the cloud boundary.
The maximum number of OB stars is of order 1 per 104 solar
mass of average molecular gas, or 10 per 104 solar mass of
dense molecular gas. The resulting star-forming efficiencies within
cloud complexes range from 2% to 16% depending on both the location of
the stars in the cloud and the details of the initial mass function,
with an overall value of about 5% for average molecular gas.