Two Stellar Mass Functions Combined into One by the Random Sampling Model of the IMF

The turnover in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) at low mass suggests the presence of two independent mass functions that combine in different ways above and below a characteristic mass given by the thermal Jeans mass in the cloud. In the random sampling model introduced earlier, the Salpeter IMF at intermediate to high mass follows primarily from the hierarchical structure of interstellar clouds, which is sampled by various star formation processes and converted into stars at the local dynamical rate. This power law part is independent of the details of star formation inside each clump and therefore has a universal character. The flat part of the IMF at low mass is proposed here to result from a second, unrelated, physical process that determines only the probability distribution function for final star mass inside a clump of a given mass, and is independent of both this clump mass and the overall cloud structure. Both processes operate for all potentially unstable clumps in a cloud, regardless of mass, but only the first shows up above the thermal Jeans mass, and only the second shows up below this mass. Analytical and stochastic models of the IMF that are based on the uniform application of these two functions for all masses reproduce the observations well.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, MNRAS pink pages in press 199

Simple and Efficient Local Codes for Distributed Stable Network Construction

In this work, we study protocols so that populations of distributed processes can construct networks. In order to highlight the basic principles of distributed network construction we keep the model minimal in all respects. In particular, we assume finite-state processes that all begin from the same initial state and all execute the same protocol (i.e. the system is homogeneous). Moreover, we assume pairwise interactions between the processes that are scheduled by an adversary. The only constraint on the adversary scheduler is that it must be fair. In order to allow processes to construct networks, we let them activate and deactivate their pairwise connections. When two processes interact, the protocol takes as input the states of the processes and the state of the their connection and updates all of them. Initially all connections are inactive and the goal is for the processes, after interacting and activating/deactivating connections for a while, to end up with a desired stable network. We give protocols (optimal in some cases) and lower bounds for several basic network construction problems such as spanning line, spanning ring, spanning star, and regular network. We provide proofs of correctness for all of our protocols and analyze the expected time to convergence of most of them under a uniform random scheduler that selects the next pair of interacting processes uniformly at random from all such pairs. Finally, we prove several universality results by presenting generic protocols that are capable of simulating a Turing Machine (TM) and exploiting it in order to construct a large class of networks.Comment: 43 pages, 7 figure

Star Formation from Galaxies to Globules

The empirical laws of star formation suggest that galactic-scale gravity is involved, but they do not identify the actual triggering mechanisms for clusters in the final stages. Many other triggering processes satisfy the empirical laws too, including turbulence compression and expanding shell collapse. The self-similar nature of the gas and associated young stars suggests that turbulence is more directly involved, but the small scale morphology of gas around most embedded clusters does not look like a random turbulent flow. Most clusters look triggered by other nearby stars. Such a prominent local influence makes it difficult to understand the universality of the Kennicutt and Schmidt laws on galactic scales. A unified view of multi-scale star formation avoids most of these problems. Ambient self-gravity produces spiral arms and drives much of the turbulence that leads to self-similar structures, while localized energy input from existing clusters and field supernovae triggers new clusters in pre-existing clouds. The hierarchical structure in the gas made by turbulence ensures that the triggering time scales with size, giving the Schmidt law over a wide range of scales and the size-duration correlation for young star fields. The efficiency of star formation is determined by the fraction of the gas above a critical density of around 10^5 m(H2)/cc. Star formation is saturated to its largest possible value given the fractal nature of the interstellar medium.Comment: accepted for ApJ, 42 pages, Dannie Heineman prize lecture, January 200

On turbulent fragmentation and the origin of the stellar IMF

Two varieties of the universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) viz., the Kroupa and the Chabrier IMF, have emerged over the last decade to explain the observed distribution of stellar masses. The possibility of the universal nature of the stellar IMF leads us to the interesting prospect of a universal mode of star-formation. It is well-known that turbulent fragmentation of gas in the interstellar medium produces a lognormal distribution of density which is further reflected by the mass-function for clumps at low and intermediate masses. Stars condense out of unstable clumps through a complex interplay between a number of dynamic processes which must be accounted for when tracing the origin of the stellar IMF. In the present work, applying the theory of gravitational fragmentation we first derive the mass function (MF) for clumps. Then a core mass function (CMF) is derived by allowing the clumps to fragment, having subjected each one to a random choice of gas temperature. Finally, the stellar IMF is derived by applying a random core-to-star conversion efficiency, $\epsilon$, in the range of 5%-15% to each CMF. We obtain a power-law IMF that has exponents within the error-bars on the Kropua IMF. This derived IMF is preceded by a similar core mass function which suggests, gravoturbulent fragmentation plays a key role in assembling necessary conditions that relate the two mass-functions. In this sense the star-formation process, at least at low redshifts where gas cooling is efficient, is likely to be universal. We argue that the observed knee in the CMF and the stellar IMF may alternatively be interpreted in terms of the characteristic temperature at which gas in potential star-forming clouds is likely to be found. Our results also show that turbulence in star-forming clouds is probably driven on large spatial scales with a power-spectrum steeper than Kolmogorov-type.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; To appear in New Astronomy; Figure numbers corrected in this versio

From rings to bulges: evidence for rapid secular galaxy evolution at z~2 from integral field spectroscopy in the SINS survey

We present Ha integral field spectroscopy of well resolved, UV/optically selected z~2 star-forming galaxies as part of the SINS survey with SINFONI on the ESO VLT. Our laser guide star adaptive optics and good seeing data show the presence of turbulent rotating star forming rings/disks, plus central bulge/inner disk components, whose mass fractions relative to total dynamical mass appears to scale with [NII]/Ha flux ratio and star formation age. We propose that the buildup of the central disks and bulges of massive galaxies at z~2 can be driven by the early secular evolution of gas-rich proto-disks. High redshift disks exhibit large random motions. This turbulence may in part be stirred up by the release of gravitational energy in the rapid cold accretion flows along the filaments of the cosmic web. As a result dynamical friction and viscous processes proceed on a time scale of <1 Gyr, at least an order of magnitude faster than in z~0 disk galaxies. Early secular evolution thus drives gas and stars into the central regions and can build up exponential disks and massive bulges, even without major mergers. Secular evolution along with increased efficiency of star formation at high surface densities may also help to account for the short time scales of the stellar buildup observed in massive galaxies at z~2.Comment: accepted Astrophysical Journal, main July 8 200