Early-forming massive stars suppress star formation and hierarchical cluster assembly
Feedback from massive stars plays an important role in the formation of star clusters. Whether a very massive star is born early or late in the cluster formation timeline has profound implications for the star cluster formation and assembly processes. We carry out a controlled experiment to characte...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023 February 27
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| In: |
The astrophysical journal
Year: 2023, Volume: 944, Issue: 2, Pages: 1-13 |
| ISSN: | 1538-4357 |
| DOI: | 10.3847/1538-4357/acb0c5 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acb0c5 Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acb0c5 
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| Author Notes: | Sean C. Lewis, Stephen L.W. McMillan, Mordecai-Mark Mac Low, Claude Cournoyer-Cloutier, Brooke Polak, Martijn J.C. Wilhelm, Aaron Tran, Alison Sills, Simon Portegies Zwart, Ralf S. Klessen, and Joshua E. Wall |
| Summary: | Feedback from massive stars plays an important role in the formation of star clusters. Whether a very massive star is born early or late in the cluster formation timeline has profound implications for the star cluster formation and assembly processes. We carry out a controlled experiment to characterize the effects of early-forming massive stars on star cluster formation. We use the star formation software suite Torch, combining self-gravitating magnetohydrodynamics, ray-tracing radiative transfer, N-body dynamics, and stellar feedback, to model four initially identical 104 M ⊙ giant molecular clouds with a Gaussian density profile peaking at 521.5 cm−3. Using the Torch software suite through the AMUSE framework, we modify three of the models, to ensure that the first star that forms is very massive (50, 70, and 100 M ⊙). Early-forming massive stars disrupt the natal gas structure, resulting in fast evacuation of the gas from the star-forming region. The star formation rate is suppressed, reducing the total mass of the stars formed. Our fiducial control model, without an early massive star, has a larger star formation rate and total efficiency by up to a factor of 3, and a higher average star formation efficiency per freefall time by up to a factor of 7. Early-forming massive stars promote the buildup of spatially separate and gravitationally unbound subclusters, while the control model forms a single massive cluster. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 03.04.2023 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1538-4357 |
| DOI: | 10.3847/1538-4357/acb0c5 |