15,304 research outputs found
Kolmogorov-Burgers Model for Star Forming Turbulence
The process of star formation in interstellar molecular clouds is believed to
be controlled by driven supersonic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. We suggest
that in the inertial range such turbulence obeys the Kolmogorov law, while in
the dissipative range it behaves as Burgers turbulence developing shock
singularities. On the base of the She-Leveque analytical model we then predict
the velocity power spectrum in the inertial range to be E_k ~ k^{-1.74}. This
result reproduces the observational Larson law, ~ l^{0.74...0.76},
[Larson, MNRAS 194 (1981) 809] and agrees well with recent numerical findings
by Padoan and Nordlund [astro-ph/0011465]. The application of the model to more
general dissipative structures, with higher fractal dimensionality, leads to
better agreement with recent observational results.Comment: revised, new material added, 8 page
Scaling relations of supersonic turbulence in star-forming molecular clouds
We present a direct numerical and analytical study of driven supersonic MHD
turbulence that is believed to govern the dynamics of star-forming molecular
clouds. We describe statistical properties of the turbulence by measuring the
velocity difference structure functions up to the fifth order. In particular,
the velocity power spectrum in the inertial range is found to be close to E(k)
\~ k^{-1.74}, and the velocity difference scales as ~ L^{0.42}. The
results agree well with the Kolmogorov--Burgers analytical model suggested for
supersonic turbulence in [astro-ph/0108300]. We then generalize the model to
more realistic, fractal structure of molecular clouds, and show that depending
on the fractal dimension of a given molecular cloud, the theoretical value for
the velocity spectrum spans the interval [-1.74 ... -1.89], while the
corresponding window for the velocity difference scaling exponent is [0.42 ...
0.78].Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures include
Formation of the First Stars by Accretion
The process of star formation from metal-free gas is investigated by
following the evolution of accreting protostars with emphasis on the properties
of massive objects. The main aim is to establish the physical processes that
determine the upper mass limit of the first stars. Although the consensus is
that massive stars were commonly formed in the first cosmic structures, our
calculations show that their actual formation depends sensitively on the mass
accretion rate and its time variation. Even in the rather idealized case in
which star formation is mainly determined by dot{M}acc, the characteristic mass
scale of the first stars is rather uncertain. We find that there is a critical
mass accretion rate dot{M}crit = 4 10^{-3} Msun/yr that separates solutions
with dot{M}acc> 100 Msun can form,
provided there is sufficient matter in the parent clouds, from others
(dot{M}acc > dot{M}crit) where the maximum mass limit decreases as dot{M}acc
increases. In the latter case, the protostellar luminosity reaches the
Eddington limit before the onset of hydrogen burning at the center via the
CN-cycle. This phase is followed by a rapid and dramatic expansion of the
radius, possibly leading to reversal of the accretion flow when the stellar
mass is about 100Msun. (abridged)Comment: 34 pages, 12 figures. ApJ, in pres
Flows, Fragmentation, and Star Formation. I. Low-mass Stars in Taurus
The remarkably filamentary spatial distribution of young stars in the Taurus
molecular cloud has significant implications for understanding low-mass star
formation in relatively quiescent conditions. The large scale and regular
spacing of the filaments suggests that small-scale turbulence is of limited
importance, which could be consistent with driving on large scales by flows
which produced the cloud. The small spatial dispersion of stars from gaseous
filaments indicates that the low-mass stars are generally born with small
velocity dispersions relative to their natal gas, of order the sound speed or
less. The spatial distribution of the stars exhibits a mean separation of about
0.25 pc, comparable to the estimated Jeans length in the densest gaseous
filaments, and is consistent with roughly uniform density along the filaments.
The efficiency of star formation in filaments is much higher than elsewhere,
with an associated higher frequency of protostars and accreting T Tauri stars.
The protostellar cores generally are aligned with the filaments, suggesting
that they are produced by gravitational fragmentation, resulting in initially
quasi-prolate cores. Given the absence of massive stars which could strongly
dominate cloud dynamics, Taurus provides important tests of theories of
dispersed low-mass star formation and numerical simulations of molecular cloud
structure and evolution.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures: to appear in Ap
Hands-on Gravitational Wave Astronomy: Extracting astrophysical information from simulated signals
In this paper we introduce a hands-on activity in which introductory
astronomy students act as gravitational wave astronomers by extracting
information from simulated gravitational wave signals. The process mimics the
way true gravitational wave analysis will be handled by using plots of a pure
gravitational wave signal. The students directly measure the properties of the
simulated signal, and use these measurements to evaluate standard formulae for
astrophysical source parameters. An exercise based on the discussion in this
paper has been written and made publicly available online for use in
introductory laboratory courses.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; submitted to Am. J. Phy
Thermal and Fragmentation Properties of Star-forming Clouds in Low-metallicity Environments
The thermal and chemical evolution of star-forming clouds is studied for
different gas metallicities, Z, using the model of Omukai (2000), updated to
include deuterium chemistry and the effects of cosmic microwave background
(CMB) radiation. HD-line cooling dominates the thermal balance of clouds when Z
\~ 10^{-5}-10^{-3} Z_sun and density ~10^{5} cm^{-3}. Early on, CMB radiation
prevents the gas temperature to fall below T_CMB, although this hardly alters
the cloud thermal evolution in low-metallicity gas. From the derived
temperature evolution, we assess cloud/core fragmentation as a function of
metallicity from linear perturbation theory, which requires that the core
elongation E := (b-a)/a > E_NL ~ 1, where a (b) is the short (long) core axis
length. The fragment mass is given by the thermal Jeans mass at E = E_NL. Given
these assumptions and the initial (gaussian) distribution of E we compute the
fragment mass distribution as a function of metallicity. We find that: (i) For
Z=0, all fragments are very massive, > 10^{3}M_sun, consistently with previous
studies; (ii) for Z>10^{-6} Z_sun a few clumps go through an additional high
density (> 10^{10} cm^{-3}) fragmentation phase driven by dust-cooling, leading
to low-mass fragments; (iii) The mass fraction in low-mass fragments is
initially very small, but at Z ~ 10^{-5}Z_sun it becomes dominant and continues
to grow as Z is increased; (iv) as a result of the two fragmentation modes, a
bimodal mass distribution emerges in 0.01 0.1Z_sun,
the two peaks merge into a singly-peaked mass function which might be regarded
as the precursor of the ordinary Salpeter-like IMF.Comment: 38 pages, 16 figures, ApJ in pres
Magnetically Regulated Star Formation in Turbulent Clouds
We investigate numerically the combined effects of supersonic turbulence,
strong magnetic fields and ambipolar diffusion on cloud evolution leading to
star formation. We find that, in clouds that are initially magnetically
subcritical, supersonic turbulence can speed up star formation, through
enhanced ambipolar diffusion in shocks. The speedup overcomes a major objection
to the standard scenario of low-mass star formation involving ambipolar
diffusion, since the diffusion time scale at the average density of a molecular
cloud is typically longer than the cloud life time. At the same time, the
strong magnetic field can prevent the large-scale supersonic turbulence from
converting most of the cloud mass into stars in one (short) turbulence crossing
time, and thus alleviate the high efficiency problem associated with the
turbulence-controlled picture for low-mass star formation. We propose that
relatively rapid but inefficient star formation results from supersonic
collisions of somewhat subcritical gas in strongly magnetized, turbulent
clouds. The salient features of this shock-accelerated, ambipolar
diffusion-regulated scenario are demonstrated with numerical experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Modeling a high mass turn down in the stellar initial mass function
Statistical sampling from the stellar initial mass function (IMF) for all
star-forming regions in the Galaxy would lead to the prediction of ~1000 Msun
stars unless there is a rapid turn-down in the IMF beyond several hundred solar
masses. Such a turndown is not necessary for dense clusters because the number
of stars sampled is always too small. Here we explore several mechanisms for an
upper mass cutoff, including an exponential decline of the star formation
probability after a turbulent crossing time. The results are in good agreement
with the observed IMF over the entire stellar mass range, and they give a
gradual turn down compared to the Salpeter function above ~100 Msun for normal
thermal Jeans mass, M_J. The upper mass turn down should scale with M_J in
different environments. A problem with the models is that they cannot give both
the observed power-law IMF out to the high-mass sampling limit in dense
clusters, as well as the observed lack of supermassive stars in whole galaxy
disks. Either there is a sharper upper-mass cutoff in the IMF, perhaps from
self-limitation, or the IMF is different for dense clusters than for the
majority of star formation that occurs at lower density. Dense clusters seem to
have an overabundance of massive stars relative to the average IMF in a galaxy.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, Astrophysical Journal, Vol 539, August 10, 200
The star formation histories of early-type galaxies: insights from the rest-frame ultra-violet
Our current understanding of the star formation histories of early-type
galaxies is reviewed, in the context of recent observational studies of their
ultra-violet (UV) properties. Combination of UV and optical spectro-photometric
data indicates that the bulk of the stellar mass in the early-type population
forms at high redshift (z > 2), typically over short timescales (< 1 Gyr).
Nevertheless, early-types of all luminosities form stars over the lifetime of
the Universe, with most luminous (-23 < M(V) < -21) systems forming 10-15% of
their stellar mass after z = 1 (with a scatter to higher value), while their
less luminous (M(V) > -21) counterparts form 30-60% of their mass in the same
redshift range. The large scatter in the (rest-frame) UV colours in the
redshift range 0 < z < 0.7 indicates widespread low-level star formation in the
early-type population over the last 8 billion years. The mass fraction of young
(< 1 Gyr old) stars in luminous early-type galaxies varies between 1% and 6% at
z~0 and is in the range 5-13% at z~0.7. The intensity of recent star formation
and the bulk of the UV colour distribution is consistent with what might be
expected from minor mergers (mass ratios < 1:6) in an LCDM cosmology.Comment: Brief Review, Mod. Phys. Lett.
Determination of the zeta potential for highly charged colloidal suspensions
We compute the electrostatic potential at the surface, or zeta potential
, of a charged particle embedded in a colloidal suspension using a
hybrid mesoscopic model. We show that for weakly perturbing electric fields,
the value of obtained at steady state during electrophoresis is
statistically indistinguishable from in thermodynamic equilibrium. We
quantify the effect of counterions concentration on . We also evaluate
the relevance of the lattice resolution for the calculation of and
discuss how to identify the effective electrostatic radius.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures with 2 panel
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