88 research outputs found
Disk wind feedback from high-mass protostars
We perform a sequence of 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the
outflow-core interaction for a massive protostar forming via collapse of an
initial cloud core of . This allows us to characterize the
properties of disk wind driven outflows from massive protostars, which can
allow testing of different massive star formation theories. It also enables us
to assess quantitatively the impact of outflow feedback on protostellar core
morphology and overall star formation efficiency. We find that the opening
angle of the flow increases with increasing protostellar mass, in agreement
with a simple semi-analytic model. Once the protostar reaches
the outflow's opening angle is so wide that it has blown
away most of the envelope, thereby nearly ending its own accretion. We thus
find an overall star formation efficiency of , similar to that
expected from low-mass protostellar cores. Our simulation results therefore
indicate that the MHD disk wind outflow is the dominant feedback mechanism for
helping to shape the stellar initial mass function from a given prestellar core
mass function.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Outflow-Confined HII regions. II. The Early Break-Out Phase
In this series of papers, we model the formation and evolution of the
photoionized region and its observational signatures during massive star
formation. Here we focus on the early break out of the photoionized region into
the outflow cavity. Using results of 3-D magnetohydrodynamic-outflow
simulations and protostellar evolution calculations, we perform post-processing
radiative-transfer. The photoionized region first appears at a protostellar
mass of 10Msun in our fiducial model, and is confined to within 10-100AU by the
dense inner outflow, similar to some observed very small hypercompact HII
regions. Since the ionizing luminosity of the massive protostar increases
dramatically as Kelvin-Helmholz (KH) contraction proceeds, the photoionized
region breaks out to the entire outflow region in <10,000yr. Accordingly, the
radio free-free emission brightens significantly in this stage. In our fiducial
model, the radio luminosity at 10 GHz changes from 0.1 mJy kpc2 at m=11Msun to
100 mJy kpc2 at 16Msun, while the infrared luminosity increases by less than a
factor of two. The radio spectral index also changes in the break-out phase
from the optically thick value of 2 to the partially optically thin value of
0.6. Additionally, we demonstrate that short-timescale variation in free-free
flux would be induced by an accretion burst. The outflow density is enhanced in
the accretion burst phase, which leads to a smaller ionized region and weaker
free-free emission. The radio luminosity may decrease by one order of magnitude
during such bursts, while the infrared luminosity is much less affected, since
internal protostellar luminosity dominates over accretion luminosity after KH
contraction starts. Such variability may be observable on timescales as short
10-100 yr, if accretion bursts are driven by disk instabilities.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
The Impact of Feedback in Massive Star Formation. II. Lower Star Formation Efficiency at Lower Metallicity
We conduct a theoretical study of the formation of massive stars over a wide
range of metallicities from 1e-5 to 1Zsun and evaluate the star formation
efficiencies (SFEs) from prestellar cloud cores taking into account multiple
feedback processes. Unlike for simple spherical accretion, in the case of disk
accretion feedback processes do not set upper limits on stellar masses. At
solar metallicity, launching of magneto-centrifugally-driven outflows is the
dominant feedback process to set SFEs, while radiation pressure, which has been
regarded to be pivotal, has only minor contribution even in the formation of
over-100Msun stars. Photoevaporation becomes significant in over-20Msun star
formation at low metallicities of <1e-2Zsun, where dust absorption of ionizing
photons is inefficient. We conclude that if initial prestellar core properties
are similar, then massive stars are rarer in extremely metal-poor environments
of 1e-5 - 1e-3Zsun. Our results give new insight into the high-mass end of the
initial mass function and its potential variation with galactic and
cosmological environments.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Massive Protostellar Disks as a Hot Laboratory of Silicate Grain Evolution
Typical accretion disks around massive protostars are hot enough for water
ice to sublimate. We here propose to utilize the massive protostellar disks for
investigating the collisional evolution of silicate grains with no ice mantle,
which is an essential process for the formation of rocky planetesimals in
protoplanetary disks around lower-mass stars. We for the first time develop a
model of massive protostellar disks that includes the coagulation,
fragmentation, and radial drift of dust. We show that the maximum grain size in
the disks is limited by collisional fragmentation rather than by radial drift.
We derive analytic formulas that produce the radial distribution of the maximum
grain size and dust surface density in the steady state. Applying the analytic
formulas to the massive protostellar disk of GGD27-MM1, where the grain size is
constrained from a millimeter polarimetric observation, we infer that the
silicate grains in this disk fragment at collision velocities above ~ 10 m/s.
The inferred fragmentation threshold velocity is lower than the maximum grain
collision velocity in typical protoplanetary disks around low-mass stars,
implying that coagulation alone may not lead to the formation of rocky
planetesimals in those disks. With future measurements of grain sizes in
massive protostellar disks, our model will provide more robust constraints on
the sticking property of silicate grains.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures,accepted for publication to The Astrophysical
Journa
GMC Collisions as Triggers of Star Formation. V. Observational Signatures
We present calculations of molecular, atomic and ionic line emission from
simulations of giant molecular cloud (GMC) collisions. We post-process
snapshots of the magneto-hydrodynamical simulations presented in an earlier
paper in this series by Wu et al. (2017) of colliding and non-colliding GMCs.
Using photodissociation region (PDR) chemistry and radiative transfer we
calculate the level populations and emission properties of CO ,
[CI] at m, [CII] m and [OI]
transition at m. From integrated
intensity emission maps and position-velocity diagrams, we find that
fine-structure lines, particularly the [CII] m, can be used as a
diagnostic tracer for cloud-cloud collision activity. These results hold even
in more evolved systems in which the collision signature in molecular lines has
been diminished.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, comments
welcom
The Detection of Hot Molecular Cores in the Small Magellanic Cloud
We report the first detection of hot molecular cores in the Small Magellanic
Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy with 0.2 solar metallicity. We observed two
high-mass young stellar objects in the SMC with ALMA, and detected emission
lines of CO, HCO+, H13CO+, SiO, H2CO, CH3OH, SO, and SO2. Compact hot-core
regions are traced by SO2, whose spatial extent is about 0.1 pc, and the gas
temperature is higher than 100 K based on the rotation diagram analysis. In
contrast, CH3OH, a classical hot-core tracer, is dominated by extended (0.2-0.3
pc) components in both sources, and the gas temperature is estimated to be
39+-8 K for one source. Protostellar outflows are also detected from both
sources as high-velocity components of CO. The metallicity-scaled abundances of
SO2 in hot cores are comparable among the SMC, LMC, and Galactic sources,
suggesting that the chemical reactions leading to SO2 formation would be
regulated by elemental abundances. On the other hand, CH3OH shows a large
abundance variation within SMC and LMC hot cores. The diversity in the initial
condition of star formation (e.g., degree of shielding, local radiation field
strength) may lead to the large abundance variation of organic molecules in hot
cores. This work, in conjunction with previous hot-core studies in the LMC and
outer/inner Galaxy, suggests that the formation of a hot core would be a common
phenomenon during high-mass star formation across the metallicity range of
0.2-1 solar metallicity. High-excitation SO2 lines will be a useful hot-core
tracer in the low-metallicity environments of the SMC and LMC.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL, 17 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables.
arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2109.1112
Direct diagnostics of forming massive stars: stellar pulsation and periodic variability of maser sources
The 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission, a tracer of forming massive stars,
sometimes shows enigmatic periodic flux variations over several 10-100 days. In
this Letter, we propose that this periodic variations could be explained by the
pulsation of massive protostars growing under rapid mass accretion with rates
of Mdot > 10^-3 Msun/yr. Our stellar evolution calculations predict that the
massive protostars have very large radius exceeding 100 Rsun at maximum, and we
here study the pulsational stability of such the bloated protostars by way of
the linear stability analysis. We show that the protostar becomes pulsationally
unstable with various periods of several 10-100 days, depending on different
accretion rates. With the fact that the stellar luminosity when the star is
pulsationally unstable also depends on the accretion rate, we derive the
period-luminosity relation log (L/Lsun) = 4.62 + 0.98log(P/100 day), which is
testable with future observations. Our models further show that the radius and
mass of the pulsating massive protostar should also depend on the period. It
would be possible to infer such protostellar properties and the accretion rate
with the observed period. Measuring the maser periods enables a direct
diagnosis of the structure of accreting massive protostars, which are deeply
embedded in dense gas and inaccessible with other observations.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ
The SOFIA Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey. I. Overview and First Results
We present an overview and first results of the Stratospheric Observatory For
Infrared Astronomy Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey, which is using the
FORCAST instrument to image massive protostars from
--. These wavelengths trace thermal emission from
warm dust, which in Core Accretion models mainly emerges from the inner regions
of protostellar outflow cavities. Dust in dense core envelopes also imprints
characteristic extinction patterns at these wavelengths, causing intensity
peaks to shift along the outflow axis and profiles to become more symmetric at
longer wavelengths. We present observational results for the first eight
protostars in the survey, i.e., multiwavelength images, including some
ancillary ground-based MIR observations and archival {\it{Spitzer}} and
{\it{Herschel}} data. These images generally show extended MIR/FIR emission
along directions consistent with those of known outflows and with shorter
wavelength peak flux positions displaced from the protostar along the
blueshifted, near-facing sides, thus confirming qualitative predictions of Core
Accretion models. We then compile spectral energy distributions and use these
to derive protostellar properties by fitting theoretical radiative transfer
models. Zhang and Tan models, based on the Turbulent Core Model of McKee and
Tan, imply the sources have protostellar masses --50
accreting at -- inside cores of
initial masses --500 embedded in clumps with mass surface
densities --3. Fitting Robitaille
et al. models typically leads to slightly higher protostellar masses, but with
disk accretion rates smaller. We discuss reasons for these
differences and overall implications of these first survey results for massive
star formation theories.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 32 page
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