scholarly journals The multiplicity of massive stars: a 2016 view

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S329) ◽  
pp. 110-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugues Sana

AbstractMassive stars like company. Here, we provide a brief overview of progresses made over the last 5 years by a number of medium and large surveys. These results provide new insights on the observed and intrinsic multiplicity properties of main sequence massive stars and on the initial conditions for their future evolution. They also bring new interesting constraints on the outcome of the massive star formation process.

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S332) ◽  
pp. 139-152
Author(s):  
Jonathan C. Tan

AbstractI review massive star formation in our Galaxy, focussing on initial conditions in Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs), including the search for massive pre-stellar cores (PSCs), and modeling of later stages of massive protostars, i.e., hot molecular cores (HMCs). I highlight how developments in astrochemistry, coupled with rapidly improving theoretical/computational and observational capabilities are helping to improve our understanding of the complex process of massive star formation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 483 (4) ◽  
pp. 4893-4900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Dylan Kee ◽  
Rolf Kuiper

Abstract Radiative feedback from luminous, massive stars during their formation is a key process in moderating accretion on to the stellar object. In the prior papers in this series, we showed that one form such feedback takes is UV line-driven disc ablation. Extending on this study, we now constrain the strength of this effect in the parameter range of star and disc properties appropriate to forming massive stars. Simulations show that ablation rate depends strongly on stellar parameters, but that this dependence can be parameterized as a nearly constant, fixed enhancement over the wind mass-loss rate, allowing us to predict the rate of disc ablation for massive (proto)stars as a function of stellar mass and metallicity. By comparing this to predicted accretion rates, we conclude that ablation is a strong feedback effect for very massive (proto)stars which should be considered in future studies of massive star formation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (A30) ◽  
pp. 118-118
Author(s):  
Fatemeh S. Tabatabaei ◽  
M. Almudena Prieto ◽  
Juan A. Fernández-Ontiveros

AbstractThe role of the magnetic fields in the formation and quenching of stars with different mass is unknown. We studied the energy balance and the star formation efficiency in a sample of molecular clouds in the central kpc region of NGC 1097, known to be highly magnetized. Combining the full polarization VLA/radio continuum observations with the HST/Hα, Paα and the SMA/CO lines observations, we separated the thermal and non-thermal synchrotron emission and compared the magnetic, turbulent, and thermal pressures. Most of the molecular clouds are magnetically supported against gravitational collapse needed to form cores of massive stars. The massive star formation efficiency of the clouds also drops with the magnetic field strength, while it is uncorrelated with turbulence (Tabatabaei et al. 2018). The inefficiency of the massive star formation and the low-mass stellar population in the center of NGC 1097 can be explained in the following steps: I) Magnetic fields supporting the molecular clouds prevent the collapse of gas to densities needed to form massive stars. II) These clouds can then be fragmented into smaller pieces due to e.g., stellar feedback, non-linear perturbations and instabilities leading to local, small-scale diffusion of the magnetic fields. III) Self-gravity overcomes and the smaller clouds seed the cores of the low-mass stars.


1986 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 523-528
Author(s):  
J. A. Graham ◽  
Taft E. Armandroff

Highlights of the IAU Symposium 116 are reviewed. Some of the general themes running through the meeting are identified. These include:i) the fruitful interaction between observation, laboratory work and theory. ii) the need for understanding and, if possible, correcting for the effects of incompleteness and bias in observing lists. iii) the importance of the Magellanic Clouds, as the nearest independently evolving stellar systems, in the study of massive star formation and evolution in galaxies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 488 (2) ◽  
pp. 2970-2975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Y Grudić ◽  
Philip F Hopkins

Abstract Most simulations of galaxies and massive giant molecular clouds (GMCs) cannot explicitly resolve the formation (or predict the main-sequence masses) of individual stars. So they must use some prescription for the amount of feedback from an assumed population of massive stars (e.g. sampling the initial mass function, IMF). We perform a methods study of simulations of a star-forming GMC with stellar feedback from UV radiation, varying only the prescription for determining the luminosity of each stellar mass element formed (according to different IMF sampling schemes). We show that different prescriptions can lead to widely varying (factor of ∼3) star formation efficiencies (on GMC scales) even though the average mass-to-light ratios agree. Discreteness of sources is important: radiative feedback from fewer, more-luminous sources has a greater effect for a given total luminosity. These differences can dominate over other, more widely recognized differences between similar literature GMC-scale studies (e.g. numerical methods, cloud initial conditions, presence of magnetic fields). Moreover the differences in these methods are not purely numerical: some make different implicit assumptions about the nature of massive star formation, and this remains deeply uncertain in star formation theory.


2008 ◽  
Vol 675 (1) ◽  
pp. L33-L36 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Beuther ◽  
D. Semenov ◽  
Th. Henning ◽  
H. Linz

2019 ◽  
Vol 625 ◽  
pp. A134 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Russeil ◽  
M. Figueira ◽  
A. Zavagno ◽  
F. Motte ◽  
N. Schneider ◽  
...  

Aims. To constrain models of high-mass star formation it is important to identify the massive dense cores (MDCs) that are able to form high-mass star(s). This is one of the purposes of the Herschel/HOBYS key programme. Here, we carry out the census and characterise of the properties of the MDCs population of the NGC 6357 H II region. Methods. Our study is based on the Herschel/PACS and SPIRE 70−500 μm images of NGC 6357 complemented with (sub-)millimetre and mid-infrared data. We followed the procedure established by the Herschel/HOBYS consortium to extract ~0.1 pc massive dense cores using the getsources software. We estimated their physical parameters (temperatures, masses, luminosities) from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. Results. We obtain a complete census of 23 massive dense cores, amongst which one is found to be IR-quiet and twelve are starless, representing very early stages of the star-formation process. Focussing on the starless MDCs, we have considered their evolutionary status, and suggest that only five of them are likely to form a high-mass star. Conclusions. We find that, contrarily to the case in NGC 6334, the NGC 6357 region does not exhibit any ridge or hub features that are believed to be crucial to the massive star formation process. This study adds support for an empirical model in which massive dense cores and protostars simultaneously accrete mass from the surrounding filaments. In addition, the massive star formation in NGC 6357 seems to have stopped and the hottest stars in Pismis 24 have disrupted the filaments.


2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (S227) ◽  
pp. 180-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. De Buizer ◽  
James T. Radomski ◽  
Charles M. Telesco ◽  
Robert K. Piña

2018 ◽  
Vol 618 ◽  
pp. A73 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. R. N. Schneider ◽  
O. H. Ramírez-Agudelo ◽  
F. Tramper ◽  
J. M. Bestenlehner ◽  
N. Castro ◽  
...  

The 30 Doradus (30 Dor) nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the brightest HII region in the Local Group and a prototype starburst similar to those found in high redshift galaxies. It is thus a stepping stone to understand the complex formation processes of stars in starburst regions across the Universe. Here, we have studied the formation history of massive stars in 30 Dor using masses and ages derived for 452 mainly OB stars from the spectroscopic VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS). We find that stars of all ages and masses are scattered throughout 30 Dor. This is remarkable because it implies that massive stars either moved large distances or formed independently over the whole field of view in relative isolation. We find that both channels contribute to the 30 Dor massive star population. Massive star formation rapidly accelerated about 8 Myr ago, first forming stars in the field before giving birth to the stellar populations in NGC 2060 and NGC 2070. The R136 star cluster in NGC 2070 formed last and, since then, about 1 Myr ago, star formation seems to be diminished with some continuing in the surroundings of R136. Massive stars within a projected distance of 8 pc of R136 are not coeval but show an age range of up to 6 Myr. Our mass distributions are well populated up to 200 M⊙. The inferred IMF is shallower than a Salpeter-like IMF and appears to be the same across 30 Dor. By comparing our sample of stars to stellar models in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, we find evidence for missing physics in the models above log L/L⊙ = 6 that is likely connected to enhanced wind mass loss for stars approaching the Eddington limit. Our work highlights the key information about the formation, evolution and final fates of massive stars encapsulated in the stellar content of 30 Dor, and sets a new benchmark for theories of massive star formation in giant molecular clouds.


Author(s):  
Sally Oey ◽  
Joel B. Lamb

AbstractThere is growing evidence that massive stars sometimes form in extremely sparse environments. The RIOTS4 survey presents a variety of evidence supporting this scenario, including a sample of 14 OB stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) that appear to have formed in situ as field stars. This is based on the presence of dense, symmetric HII regions hosting apparent non-runaway stars. We also present a spatially complete IMF of SMC field OB stars for masses > 7 M⊙, showing that the slope is much steeper than the Salpeter value. The binary fraction among field OB stars is also the same as in clusters, based on a RIOTS4 subsample. These results suggest a relative, but incomplete, suppression of massive star formation in the sparsest regimes.


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