ANALYTICAL THEORY FOR THE INITIAL MASS FUNCTION. III. TIME DEPENDENCE AND STAR FORMATION RATE

Journal Article · Thu Jun 20 04:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/770/2/150· OSTI ID:22127032

Hennebelle, Patrick ^[1]; Chabrier, Gilles ^[2]

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1. Laboratoire AIM, Paris-Saclay, CEA/IRFU/SAp-CNRS-Universite Paris Diderot, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France)
2. Ecole normale superieure de Lyon, CRAL, UMR CNRS 5574, F-69364 Lyon Cedex 07 (France)

The present paper extends our previous theory of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) by including time dependence and by including the impact of the magnetic field. The predicted mass spectra are similar to the time-independent ones with slightly shallower slopes at large masses and peak locations shifted toward smaller masses by a factor of a few. Assuming that star-forming clumps follow Larson-type relations, we obtain core mass functions in good agreement with the observationally derived IMF, in particular, when taking into account the thermodynamics of the gas. The time-dependent theory directly yields an analytical expression for the star formation rate (SFR) at cloud scales. The SFR values agree well with the observational determinations of various Galactic molecular clouds. Furthermore, we show that the SFR does not simply depend linearly on density, as is sometimes claimed in the literature, but also depends strongly on the clump mass/size, which yields the observed scatter. We stress, however, that any SFR theory depends, explicitly or implicitly, on very uncertain assumptions like clump boundaries or the mass of the most massive stars that can form in a given clump, making the final determinations uncertain by a factor of a few. Finally, we derive a fully time dependent model for the IMF by considering a clump, or a distribution of clumps accreting at a constant rate and thus whose physical properties evolve with time. In spite of its simplicity, this model reproduces reasonably well various features observed in numerical simulations of converging flows. Based on this general theory, we present a paradigm for star formation and the IMF.

• OSTI ID: 22127032
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 770; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
CLOUDS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DENSITY
LUMINOSITY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MASS
MASS SPECTRA
STARS
THERMODYNAMICS
TIME DEPENDENCE
TURBULENCE