Ionisation Feedback in Star and Cluster Formation Simulations

AbstractFeedback from photoionisation may dominate on parsec scales in massive star-forming regions. Such feedback may inhibit or enhance the star formation efficiency and sustain or even drive turbulence in the parent molecular cloud. Photoionisation feedback may also provide a mechanism for the rapid expulsion of gas from young clusters' potentials, often invoked as the main cause of ‘infant mortality’. There is currently no agreement, however, with regards to the efficiency of this process and how environment may affect the direction (positive or negative) in which it proceeds. The study of the photoionisation process as part of hydrodynamical simulations is key to understanding these issues, however, due to the computational demand of the problem, crude approximations for the radiation transfer are often employed.We will briefly review some of the most commonly used approximations and discuss their major drawbacks. We will then present the results of detailed tests carried out using the detailed photoionisation code mocassin and the SPH+ionisation code iVINE code, aimed at understanding the error introduced by the simplified photoionisation algorithms. This is particularly relevant as a number of new codes have recently been developed along those lines.We will finally propose a new approach that should allow to efficiently and self-consistently treat the photoionisation problem for complex radiation and density fields.

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The statistical properties of protostellar discs and their dependence on metallicity

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stab2901 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel Elsender ◽

Matthew R Bate

Keyword(s):

Cluster Formation ◽

Small Scale ◽

Star Forming ◽

Star Forming Regions ◽

Characteristic Radius ◽

Thermochemical Model ◽

Solar Metallicity ◽

Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽

Protostellar Discs ◽

The Masses

Abstract We present the analysis of the properties of large samples of protostellar discs formed in four radiation hydrodynamical simulations of star cluster formation. The four calculations have metallicities of 0.01, 0.1, 1 and 3 times solar metallicity. The calculations treat dust and gas temperatures separately and include a thermochemical model of the diffuse interstellar medium. We find the radii of discs of bound protostellar systems tend to decrease with decreasing metallicity, with the median characteristic radius of discs in the 0.01 and 3 times solar metallicity calculations being ≈20 and ≈65 au, respectively. Disc masses and radii of isolated protostars also tend to decrease with decreasing metallicity. We find that the circumstellar discs and orbits of bound protostellar pairs, and the two spins of the two protostars are all less well aligned with each other with lower metallicity than with higher metallicity. These variations with metallicity are due to increased small scale fragmentation due to lower opacities and greater cooling rates with lower metallicity, which increase the stellar multiplicity and increase dynamical interactions. We compare the disc masses and radii of protostellar systems from the solar metallicity calculation with recent surveys of discs around Class 0 and I objects in the Orion and Perseus star-forming regions. The masses and radii of the simulated discs have similar distributions to the observed Class 0 and I discs.

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The effect of photoionizing feedback on the shaping of hierarchically-forming stellar clusters

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa2921 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 499 (1) ◽

pp. 668-680

Author(s):

Alejandro González-Samaniego ◽

Enrique Vazquez-Semadeni

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Early Stage ◽

Stellar Clusters ◽

Low Mass Stars ◽

Transfer Scheme ◽

Star Forming ◽

Secondary Star ◽

Low Mass ◽

Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽

Formation Efficiency

ABSTRACT We use two hydrodynamical simulations (with and without photoionizing feedback) of the self-consistent evolution of molecular clouds (MCs) undergoing global hierarchical collapse (GHC), to study the effect of the feedback on the structural and kinematic properties of the gas and the stellar clusters formed in the clouds. During this early stage, the evolution of the two simulations is very similar (implying that the feedback from low-mass stars does not affect the cloud-scale evolution significantly) and the star-forming region accretes faster than it can convert gas into stars, causing the instantaneous measured star formation efficiency (SFE) to remain low even in the absence of significant feedback. Afterwards, the ionizing feedback first destroys the filamentary supply to star-forming hubs and ultimately removes the gas from it, thus first reducing the star formation (SF) and finally halting it. The ionizing feedback also affects the initial kinematics and spatial distribution of the forming stars because the gas being dispersed continues to form stars, which inherit its motion. In the non-feedback simulation, the groups remain highly compact and do not mix, while in the run with feedback, the gas dispersal causes each group to expand, and the cluster expansion thus consists of the combined expansion of the groups. Most secondary star-forming sites around the main hub are also present in the non-feedback run, implying a primordial rather than triggered nature. We do find one example of a peripheral star-forming site that appears only in the feedback run, thus having a triggered origin. However, this appears to be the exception rather than the rule, although this may be an artefact of our simplified radiative transfer scheme.

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The Circumstellar Environment of Embedded Massive Stars

Highlights of Astronomy ◽

10.1017/s1539299600013083 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

pp. 143-145 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lee G. Mundy ◽

Friedrich Wyrowski ◽

Sarah Watt

Keyword(s):

Massive Star ◽

Massive Stars ◽

Low Mass Stars ◽

Submillimeter Wavelength ◽

Star Forming ◽

Star Forming Regions ◽

Low Mass ◽

Circumstellar Environments ◽

Near Future

Millimeter and submillimeter wavelength images of massive star-forming regions are uncovering the natal material distribution and revealing the complexities of their circumstellar environments on size scales from parsecs to 100’s of AU. Progress in these areas has been slower than for low-mass stars because massive stars are more distant, and because they are gregarious siblings with different evolutionary stages that can co-exist even within a core. Nevertheless, observational goals for the near future include the characterization of an early evolutionary sequence for massive stars, determination if the accretion process and formation sequence for massive stars is similar to that of low-mass stars, and understanding of the role of triggering events in massive star formation.

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From young massive star clusters to old globulars: long-term survival chances

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921307001962 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 2 (S237) ◽

pp. 408-408

Author(s):

Richard de Grijs

Keyword(s):

Galaxy Formation ◽

Massive Star ◽

Cluster Formation ◽

Star Clusters ◽

Term Survival ◽

Star Forming ◽

Distant Galaxies ◽

Wide Range ◽

Galaxy Collisions

Young, massive star clusters (YMCs) are the most notable and significant end products of violent star-forming episodes triggered by galaxy collisions and close encounters. The question remains, however, whether or not at least a fraction of the compact YMCs seen in abundance in extragalactic starbursts, are potentially the progenitors of (≳10 Gyr) old globular cluster (GC)-type objects. If we could settle this issue convincingly, one way or the other, the implications of such a result would have far-reaching implications for a wide range of astrophysical questions, including our understanding of the process of galaxy formation and assembly, and the process and conditions required for star (cluster) formation. Because of the lack of a statistically significant sample of YMCs in the Local Group, however, we need to resort to either statistical arguments or to the painstaking approach of case-by-case studies of individual objects in more distant galaxies.

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Millimetre wavelength methanol masers survey towards massive star forming regions

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921307013051 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 3 (S242) ◽

pp. 234-235

Author(s):

T. Umemoto ◽

N. Mochizuki ◽

K. M. Shibata ◽

D.-G. Roh ◽

H.-S. Chung

Keyword(s):

Detection Rate ◽

Massive Star ◽

Molecular Line ◽

Maser Emission ◽

Star Forming ◽

Methanol Maser ◽

Physical Conditions ◽

Star Forming Regions ◽

Methanol Masers ◽

Maser Sources

AbstractWe present the results of a mm wavelength methanol maser survey towards massive star forming regions. We have carried out Class II methanol maser observations at 86.6 GHz, 86.9 GHz and 107.0 GHz, simultaneously, using the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. We selected 108 6.7 GHz methanol maser sources with declinations above −25 degrees and fluxes above 20 Jy. The detection limit of maser observations was ~3 Jy. Of the 93 sources surveyed so far, we detected methanol emission in 25 sources (27%) and “maser” emission in nine sources (10%), of which thre “maser” sources are new detections. The detection rate for maser emission is about half that of a survey of the southern sky (Caswell et al. 2000). There is a correlation between the maser flux of 107 GHz and 6.7 GHz/12 GHz emission, but no correlation with the “thermal” (non maser) emission. From results of other molecular line observations, we found that the sources with methanol emission show higher gas temperatures and twice the detection rate of SiO emission. This may suggest that dust evaporation and destruction by shock are responsible for the high abundance of methanol molecules, one of the required physical conditions for maser emission.

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