Effective star formation rates for cosmological applications

Effective star formation rates in tabular form are computed that yield a pr escription for the star formation activity in model galaxies as a function of ambient density, metallicity, and stellar feedback. The effects of super nova explosions on the thermal balance of the interstellar medium (ISM) and the presence of a multiphase ISM are explicitly included. The resulting gr id of models can be implemented easily in N-body codes for the computation of star formation processes in merging galaxies and cosmological simulation s.