ON THE IMF IN A TRIGGERED STAR FORMATION CONTEXT
Name
Zhou-2015-ON THE IMF IN A TRIG.pdf
Size
365.91 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
d76df8378a7ec0ddbfa3e8a18754eb3f
Author(s)
Zhou, Tingtao
Huang, Chelsea X.
Lin, D. N. C.
Gritschneder, Matthias
Lau, Herbert
Date Issued
July 2015
Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citation
Zhou, Tingtao, Chelsea X. Huang, D. N. C. Lin, Matthias Gritschneder, and Herbert Lau. “ON THE IMF IN A TRIGGERED STAR FORMATION CONTEXT.” The Astrophysical Journal 808, no. 1 (July 14, 2015): 10. © 2015 The American Astronomical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a fundamental issue in the theory of star formation. It is generally fit with a composite power law. Some clues on the progenitors can be found in dense starless cores that have a core mass function (CMF) with a similar shape. In the low-mass end, these mass functions increase with mass, albeit the sample may be somewhat incomplete; in the high-mass end, the mass functions decrease with mass. There is an offset in the turn-over mass between the two mass distributions. The stellar mass for the IMF peak is lower than the corresponding core mass for the CMF peak in the Pipe Nebula by about a factor of three. Smaller offsets are found between the IMF and the CMFs in other nebulae. We suggest that the offset is likely induced during a starburst episode of global star formation which is triggered by the formation of a few O/B stars in the multi-phase media, which naturally emerged through the onset of thermal instability in the cloud-core formation process. We consider the scenario that the ignition of a few massive stars photoionizes the warm medium between the cores, increases the external pressure, reduces their Bonnor-Ebert mass, and triggers the collapse of some previously stable cores. We quantitatively reproduce the IMF in the low-mass end with the assumption of additional rotational fragmentation.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/808/1/10
