392 research outputs found
Dependence of the Star Formation Efficiency on the Parameters of Molecular Cloud Formation Simulations
We investigate the response of the star formation efficiency (SFE) to the
main parameters of simulations of molecular cloud formation by the collision of
warm diffuse medium (WNM) cylindrical streams, neglecting stellar feedback and
magnetic fields. The parameters we vary are the Mach number of the inflow
velocity of the streams, Msinf, the rms Mach number of the initial background
turbulence in the WNM, and the total mass contained in the colliding gas
streams, Minf. Because the SFE is a function of time, we define two estimators
for it, the "absolute" SFE, measured at t = 25 Myr into the simulation's
evolution (sfeabs), and the "relative" SFE, measured 5 Myr after the onset of
star formation in each simulation (sferel). The latter is close to the "star
formation rate per free-fall time" for gas at n = 100 cm^-3. We find that both
estimators decrease with increasing Minf, although by no more than a factor of
2 as Msinf increases from 1.25 to 3.5. Increasing levels of background
turbulence similarly reduce the SFE, because the turbulence disrupts the
coherence of the colliding streams, fragmenting the cloud, and producing
small-scale clumps scattered through the numerical box, which have low SFEs.
Finally, the SFE is very sensitive to the mass of the inflows, with sferel
decreasing from ~0.4 to ~0.04 as the the virial parameter in the colliding
streams increases from ~0.15 to ~1.5. This trend is in partial agreement with
the prediction by Krumholz & McKee (2005), since the latter lies within the
same range as the observed efficiencies, but with a significantly shallower
slope. We conclude that the observed variability of the SFE is a highly
sensitive function of the parameters of the cloud formation process, and may be
the cause of significant scatter in observational determinations.Comment: 19 pages, submitted to MNRA
Molecular Cloud Evolution III. Accretion vs. stellar feedback
We numerically investigate the effect of feedback from the ionizing radiation
heating from massive stars on the evolution of giant molecular clouds (GMCs)
and their star formation efficiency (SFE). We find that the star-forming
regions within the GMCs are invariably formed by gravitational contraction.
After an initial period of contraction, the collapsing clouds begin forming
stars, whose feedback evaporates part of the clouds' mass, opposing the
continuing accretion from the infalling gas. The competition of accretion
against dense gas consumption by star formation (SF) and evaporation by the
feedback, regulates the clouds' mass and energy balance, as well as their SFE.
We find that, in the presence of feedback, the clouds attain levels of the SFE
that are consistent at all times with observational determinations for regions
of comparable SF rates (SFRs). However, we observe that the dense gas mass is
larger in general in the presence of feedback, while the total (dense gas +
stars) is nearly insensitive to the presence of feedback, suggesting that the
total mass is determined by the accretion, while the feedback inhibits mainly
the conversion of dense gas to stars. The factor by which the SFE is reduced
upon the inclusion of feedback is a decreasing function of the cloud's mass,
for clouds of size ~ 10 pc. This naturally explains the larger observed SFEs of
massive-star forming regions. We also find that the clouds may attain a
pseudo-virialized state, with a value of the virial mass very similar to the
actual cloud mass. However, this state differs from true virialization in that
the clouds are the center of a large-scale collapse, continuously accreting
mass, rather than being equilibrium entities.Comment: Submitted to ApJ (abstract abridged
High- and Low-Mass Star Forming Regions from Hierarchical Gravitational Fragmentation. High local Star Formation Rates with Low Global Efficiencies
We investigate the properties of "star forming regions" in a previously
published numerical simulation of molecular cloud formation out of compressive
motions in the warm neutral atomic interstellar medium, neglecting magnetic
fields and stellar feedback. In this simulation, the velocity dispersions at
all scales are caused primarily by infall motions rather than by random
turbulence. We study the properties (density, total gas+stars mass, stellar
mass, velocity dispersion, and star formation rate) of the cloud hosting the
first local, isolated "star formation" event in the simulation and compare them
with those of the cloud formed by a later central, global collapse event. We
suggest that the small-scale, isolated collapse may be representative of low-
to intermediate-mass star-forming regions, while the large-scale, massive one
may be representative of massive star forming regions. We also find that the
statistical distributions of physical properties of the dense cores in the
region of massive collapse compare very well with those from a recent survey of
the massive star forming region in the Cygnus X molecular cloud. The star
formation efficiency per free-fall time (SFE_ff) of the high-mass SF clump is
low, ~0.04. This occurs because the clump is accreting mass at a high rate, not
because its specific SFR (SSFR) is low. This implies that a low value of the
SFE_ff does not necessarily imply a low SSFR, but may rather indicate a large
gas accretion rate. We suggest that a globally low SSFR at the GMC level can be
attained even if local star forming sites have much larger values of the SSFR
if star formation is a spatially intermittent process, so that most of the mass
in a GMC is not participating of the SF process at any given time.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. Revised version, according to exchanges with
referee. Original results unchanged. Extensive new discussion on the low
global efficiency vs. high local efficiency of star formation. Abstract
abridge
Posterior probability intervals in Bayesian wavelet estimation
We use saddlepoint approximation to derive credible intervals for Bayesian wavelet regression estimates. Simulations show that the resulting intervals perform better than the best existing metho
A method for reconstructing the variance of a 3D physical field from 2D observations: Application to turbulence in the ISM
We introduce and test an expression for calculating the variance of a
physical field in three dimensions using only information contained in the
two-dimensional projection of the field. The method is general but assumes
statistical isotropy. To test the method we apply it to numerical simulations
of hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in molecular clouds, and
demonstrate that it can recover the 3D normalised density variance with ~10%
accuracy if the assumption of isotropy is valid. We show that the assumption of
isotropy breaks down at low sonic Mach number if the turbulence is
sub-Alfvenic. Theoretical predictions suggest that the 3D density variance
should increase proportionally to the square of the Mach number of the
turbulence. Application of our method will allow this prediction to be tested
observationally and therefore constrain a large body of analytic models of star
formation that rely on it.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Macroscopic and Local Magnetic Moments in Si-doped CuGeO with Neutron and SR Studies
The temperature-concentration phase diagram of the Si-doped spin-Peierls
compound CuGeO is investigated by means of neutron scattering and muon
spin rotation spectroscopy in order to determine the microscopic distribution
of the magnetic and lattice dimerised regions as a function of doping. The
analysis of the zero-field muon spectra has confirmed the spatial inhomogeneity
of the staggered magnetisation that characterises the antiferromagnetic
superlattice peaks observed with neutrons. In addition, the variation of the
macroscopic order parameter with doping can be understood by considering the
evolution of the local magnetic moment as well as of the various regions
contributing to the muon signal
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