Molecular clouds are the birth places of stars and planets. Recent large-scale
surveys with e.g. the Spitzer Space Telescope indicate that most of these
molecular clouds form stars, i.e. that star formation must set in rapidly once
the clouds have formed. I will discuss the importance of gas dynamics
for our understanding of the star formation process. Specifically, I will
present a series of numerical experiments demonstrating that gas-dynamical
instabilities during the cloud formation can naturally produce the
required initial conditions for star formation. I will also discuss briefly
the numerical challenges and how they can be addressed.
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