Stars form from gas both dense enough to collapse but diffuse enough to cool into molecules. If cooling is prohibited, a supermassive black hole may form instead. The transition may explain key mysteries of galactic structure.
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Blackman, E. What's hot and what's not. Nature Phys 6, 84–85 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1524
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1524