Star formation in self-gravitating turbulent fluids

Journal Article · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/804/1/44· OSTI ID:22883245

Murray, Norman ^[1]; Chang, Philip ^[2]

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1. Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, 60 St. George Street, University of Toronto, Toronto ON M5S 3H8 (Canada)
2. Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1900 East Kenwood Boulevard, Milwaukee, WI 53211 (United States)

We present a model of star formation in self-gravitating turbulent gas in which the turbulent velocity, v{sub T}, is a dynamical variable and is adiabatically heated by the collapse. The theory predicts the run of density, infall, and turbulent velocity and the rate of star formation in compact massive clouds. The adiabatic heating ensures that the turbulent pressure is dynamically important at all radii. The system evolves toward a coherent spatial structure with a fixed run of density, ρ(r,t)→ρ(r); mass flows through this structure onto the central star or star cluster. We define the sphere of influence of the accreted matter by m{sub ∗}=M{sub g}(r{sub ∗}), where m{sub *} is the stellar plus disk mass in the nascent star cluster and M{sub g}(r) is the gas mass inside radius r. Both v{sub T} and the infall velocity, |u{sub r}|, decrease with decreasing r for r>r{sub ∗}; v{sub T}(r)∼r{sup p}, the size–line-width relation, with p≈0.2−0.3, explaining the observation that Larson’s Law is altered in massive star-forming regions. The infall velocity is generally smaller than the turbulent velocity at r>r{sub ∗}. For r

• OSTI ID: 22883245
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 804; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
COSMIC GASES
DENSITY
DIMENSIONLESS NUMBERS
GALAXIES
LINE WIDTHS
MASS
STAR CLUSTERS
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
TURBULENCE
VELOCITY