Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Study of the parameters affecting the collapse of a rotating protostellar cloud

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5190077
The effect of three different processes - turbulent viscosity, initial rotation rates and random fluctuations in initial density and/or velocity fields on the collapse of an isothermal, rotating protostellar cloud was studied using Eulerian hydrodynamics in finite-difference approximation and cylindrical coordinates. Specifically, it was desired to see the influence of these processes in the formation of a centrally condensed core which can eventually lead to a single star. It was found that turbulent viscosity enhances the central condensation, reduces ring radius and the ratio density to central density but, except for very large viscous forces where there is a possibility of preventing ring formation, turbulent viscosity does not suppress rings completely. Turbulence also slows the collapse. Random fluctuations in initial density and/or velocity fields slow the collapse and hinder deep collapse. The effects of fluctuations in either the initial density or velocity or both have similar effects. Fluctuations in both lead to even smaller densities at the center than fluctuations in either one of the initial parameters.
Research Organization:
North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh (USA)
OSTI ID:
5190077
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English