Numerical simulations of dynamical protostar formation

Pongracic, Helen, Chapman, Simon, Davies, Robert, Nelson, Alistair, Disney, Michael John and Whitworth, Anthony Peter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1178-5486 1990. Numerical simulations of dynamical protostar formation. Presented at: Vulcano Workshop on Young Star Clusters and Early Stellar Evolution, Vulcano, Italy, 16-20 Sept. 1991. Vulcano Workshop on Young Star Clusters and Early Stellar Evolution, Vulcano, Italy, Sept. 16-20, 1991, Proceedings. MEMORIE della Società Astronomica Italiana (62 (4)) Trieste, Italy: Italian Astronomical Society, pp. 851-858.

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Abstract

Numerical simulations of supersonic collisions between molecular subclouds and the resulting formation of protostars are presented. The efficient cooling implicit in the present prescribed equation of state ensures that the shocked layer of dense gas which forms when two subclouds (sub-subclouds) collide is very Jeans unstable, but there is never any spontaneous fragmentation as a result of Jeans instability alone. Consequently, the number of protostars is never more than the number of subclouds and/or sub-subclouds present initially. The protostars which condense out are stabilized disks with well-defined boundaries where they continue to grow by accretion. They have masses (1-30 solar masses) and diameters (200-800 AU) similar to those inferred from observations of candidate protostellar and extremely young stellar sources. They are many orders of magnitude denser than the gas in the initial subclouds or sub-subclouds.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Computational Astrophysics, Molecular Clouds, Protostars, Star Formation, Digital Simulation, Gas Cooling, Interstellar Gas, Stellar Mass
Publisher:	Italian Astronomical Society
ISSN:	0037-8720
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2022 12:34
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/74549

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