Fredagskollokvium: Massive stars formed in atomic hydrogen reservoirs

I will discuss the process of gas inflow on galaxies and subsequent
fuelling of star-formation. Using recent ATCA HI observations I will
show that galaxies with anomalous local metallicity decrements
(gamma-ray burst host galaxies) have substantial atomic gas
reservoirs, and are deficient in molecular gas. This suggests that
star formation in these galaxies may be fuelled by recent inflow of
metal-poor atomic gas. This is controversial, but can happen in
low-metallicity gas near the onset of star formation because cooling
of gas (necessary for star formation) is faster than the HI-to-H2