A HYBRID SCENARIO FOR THE FORMATION OF BROWN DWARFS AND VERY LOW MASS STARS

Journal Article · Tue May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/750/1/30· OSTI ID:22034618

Basu, Shantanu ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7 (Canada)

We present a calculation of protostellar disk formation and evolution in which gaseous clumps (essentially, the first Larson cores formed via disk fragmentation) are ejected from the disk during the early stage of evolution. This is a universal process related to the phenomenon of ejection in multiple systems of point masses. However, it occurs in our model entirely due to the interaction of compact, gravitationally bound gaseous clumps and is free from the smoothing-length uncertainty that is characteristic of models using sink particles. Clumps that survive ejection span a mass range of 0.08-0.35 M{sub Sun }, and have ejection velocities 0.8 {+-} 0.35 km s{sup -1}, which are several times greater than the escape speed. We suggest that, upon contraction, these clumps can form substellar or low-mass stellar objects with notable disks, or even close-separation very low mass binaries. In this hybrid scenario, allowing for ejection of clumps rather than finished protostars/proto-brown-dwarfs, disk formation and the low velocity dispersion of low-mass objects are naturally explained, while it is also consistent with the observation of isolated low-mass clumps that are ejection products. We conclude that clump ejection and the formation of isolated low-mass stellar and substellar objects is a common occurrence, with important implications for understanding the initial mass function, the brown dwarf desert, and the formation of stars in all environments and epochs.

• OSTI ID: 22034618
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 750; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ACCRETION DISKS
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY
DWARF STARS
FRAGMENTATION
HYDRODYNAMICS
MASS
PLANETS
PROTOSTARS
STAR EVOLUTION
VELOCITY