This article synthesizes observational data from an extensive program aimed toward a comprehensive understanding of star formation in a low-mass star-forming molecular cloud .
New observations and published data spanning from the centimeter wave band to the near infrared reveal the high and low density molecular gas , dust , and pre-main sequence stars in L1551 .

The total cloud mass of \sim 160 M _ { \odot } contained within a 0.9 pc has a dynamical timescale , t _ { dyn } = 1.1 Myr .
Thirty-five pre-main sequence stars with masses from \sim 0.1 to 1.5 M _ { \odot } are selected to be members of the L1551 association constituting a total of 22 \pm 5 M _ { \odot } of stellar mass .
The observed star formation efficiency , { SFE } = 12 % , while the total efficiency , { SFE } _ { tot } , is estimated to fall between 9 and 15 % .

L1551 appears to have been forming stars for several t _ { dyn } with the rate of star formation increasing with time .
Star formation has likely progressed from east to west , and there is clear evidence that another star or stellar system will form in the high column density region to the northwest of L1551 IRS5 .

High-resolution , wide-field maps of L1551 in CO isotopologue emission display the structure of the molecular cloud at 1600 AU physical resolution .
The ^ { 13 } CO emission clearly reveals the disruption of the ambient cloud by outflows in the line core and traces the interface between regions of outflow and quiescent gas in the line wings .
Kinetic energy from outflows is being deposited back into the cloud on a physical scale \lambda _ { peak } \approx 0.05 pc at a rate , \dot { E } _ { input } \approx 0.05 L _ { \odot } .
The remaining energy afforded by the full mechanical luminosity of outflow in L1551 destroys the cloud or is otherwise lost to the greater interstellar medium .

The C ^ { 18 } O emission is optically thin and traces well the turbulent velocity structure of the cloud .
The total turbulent energy is close to what is expected from virial equilibrium .
The turbulent velocities exist primarily on small scales in the cloud and the energy spectrum of turbulent fluctuations , E ( k ) \propto k ^ { - \beta } , is derived by various methods to have \beta \approx 1 –2 .
The turbulent dissipation rate estimated using the results of current numerical simulations is \dot { E } _ { diss } \approx \dot { E } _ { input } .

This study reveals that stellar feedback is a significant factor in the evolution of the L1551 cloud .