The fate of massive cold clumps, their internal structure and collapse need to be characterised to understand the initial conditions for the formation of high-mass stars, stellar systems, and the origin of associations and clusters. We explore the onset of star formation in the 75 M_sun SMM1 clump in the region ISOSS J18364-0221 using infrared and (sub-)millimetre observations including interferometry. This contracting clump has fragmented into two compact cores SMM1 North and South of 0.05 pc radius, having masses of 15 and 10 M_sun, and luminosities of 20 and 180 L_sun. SMM1 South harbours a source traced at 24 and 70um, drives an energetic molecular outflow, and appears supersonically turbulent at the core centre. SMM1 North has no infrared counterparts and shows lower levels of turbulence, but also drives an outflow. Both outflows appear collimated and parsec-scale near-infrared features probably trace the outflow-powering jets. We derived mass outflow rates of at least 4E-5 M_sun/yr and outflow timescales of less than 1E4 yr. Our HCN(1-0) modelling for SMM1 South yielded an infall velocity of 0.14 km/s and an estimated mass infall rate of 3E-5 M_sun/yr. Both cores may harbour seeds of intermediate- or high-mass stars. We compare the derived core properties with recent simulations of massive core collapse. They are consistent with the very early stages dominated by accretion luminosity.
We investigate the origin of the clumpy structures observed at high redshift, like the chain galaxies. We use a three dimensional chemodynamical simulation describing the dynamics of stars and a two-phase interstellar medium, as well as feedback processes from the stars. For high efficiency of energy dissipation in the cold cloud medium, the initially gaseous disk fragments and develops several massive clumps of gas and stars. We follow the evolution of the individual clumps and determine their masses, metallicities and velocities. A few dynamical times after fragmentation of the disk, the clu…
We simulate fragmentation and gravitational collapse of cold, magnetized molecular clouds. We explore the nonlinear development of an instability mediated by ambipolar diffusion, in which the collapse rate is intermediate to fast gravitational collapse and slow quasistatic collapse. Initially uniform stable clouds fragment into elongated clumps with masses largely determined by the cloud temperature, but substantially larger than the thermal Jeans mass. The clumps are asymmetric, with significant rotation and vorticity, and lose magnetic flux as they collapse. The clump shapes, intermediate co…
The results of study of the gravitational fragmentation in the interstellar medium (ISM) by clump-clump collisions are presented. We suggest, that collision of clumps, that are subparts of Giant Molecular Clouds (GMC) may be on of the basic mechanism, which result to ISM fragmentation and define the dynamical as well as statistical characteristics (e.g. the mass spectra) of protostellar condensation. In the present paper, we describe our 3D SPH-modeling, in isothermal approximation, of supersonic collisions of two identical clumps with a few variants of initial impact parameters ($β$), that co…
The isothermal gravitational collapse and fragmentation of a region within a molecular cloud and the subsequent formation of a protostellar cluster is investigated numerically. The clump mass spectrum which forms during the fragmentation phase can be well approximated by a power law distribution dN/dM ~ M^(-1.5). In contrast, the mass spectrum of protostellar cores that form in the centers of Jeans-unstable clumps and evolve through accretion and N-body interactions is described by a log-normal distribution with a width that is in excellent agreement with observations of multiple stellar syste…
The isothermal gravitational collapse and fragmentation of a molecular cloud region and the subsequent formation of a protostellar cluster is investigated numerically. The clump mass spectrum which forms during the fragmentation phase can be well approximated by a power law distribution dN/dM ~ M^(-1.5). In contrast, the mass spectrum of protostellar cores that form in the centers of Jeans unstable clumps and evolve through accretion and N-body interaction is best described by a log-normal distribution. Assuming a star formation efficiency of ~10%, it is in excellent agreement with the IMF of …
We suggest that the abrupt switch, from hierarchical clustering on scales larger than 0.04 pc, to binary (and occasionally higher multiple) systems on smaller scales, which Larson has deduced from his analysis of the grouping of pre-Main-Sequence stars in Taurus, arises because pre-protostellar gas becomes thermally coupled to dust at sufficiently high densities. The resulting change from gas-cooling by molecular lines at low densities to gas-cooling by dust at high densities enables the matter to radiate much more efficiently, and hence to undergo dynamical fragmentation. We derive the domain…
In order to constrain the initial mass function (IMF) of the first generation of stars (Population III), we investigate the fragmentation properties of metal-free gas in the context of a hierarchical model of structure formation. We investigate the evolution of an isolated 3-sigma peak of mass 2x10^6 M_solar which collapses at z_coll=30 using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics. We find that the gas dissipatively settles into a rotationally supported disk which has a very filamentary morphology. The gas in these filaments is Jeans unstable with M_J~10^3 M_solar. Fragmentation leads to the formatio…
Turbulent fragmentation determines where and when protostellar cores form, and how they contract and grow in mass from the surrounding cloud material. Molecular cloud regions without turbulent driving sources, or where turbulence is driven on large scales, exhibit rapid and efficient star formation in a clustered mode, whereas interstellar turbulence that carries most energy on small scales results in isolated star formation with low efficiency. The clump mass spectrum of shock-generated density fluctuations in pure hydrodynamic, supersonic turbulence is not well fit by a power law, and it is …
Observations of H$_{2}$CO lines and continuum at 1.3 mm towards Sgr B2(N) and Sgr B2(M) cores were carried out with the SMA. We imaged H$_{2}$CO line absorption against the continuum cores and the surrounding line emission clumps. The results show that the majority of the dense gas is falling into the major cores where massive stars have been formed. The filaments and clumps of the continuum and gas are detected outside of Sgr B2(N) and Sgr B2(M) cores. Both the spectra and moment analysis show the presence of outflows from Sgr B2(M) cores. The H$_{2}$CO gas in the red-shifted outflow of Sgr B…
Turbulent fragmentation determines where and when protostellar cores form, and how they contract and grow in mass from the surrounding cloud material. This process is investigated, using numerical models of self-gravitating molecular cloud dynamics. Molecular cloud regions without turbulent driving sources, or where turbulence is driven on large scales, exhibit rapid and efficient star formation in a clustered mode, whereas interstellar turbulence that carries most energy on small scales results in isolated star formation with low efficiency. The clump mass spectrum of shock-generated density …
In order to constrain the initial mass function of the first generation of stars (Population III), one has to study the fragmentation properties of primordial gas. We present results from 3D simulations, based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics, which explore the idea that small-scale fluctuations in the (cold) dark matter recreate a filamentary and clumpy structure in the gas component on scales smaller than the initial Jeans mass, where all primordial fluctuations would have been wiped out.
Recent studies of dense clumps/cores in a number of regions of low-mass star formation have shown that the mass distribution of these clumps closely resembles the initial mass function (IMF) of field stars. One possible interpretation of these observations is that we are witnessing the fragmentation of the clouds into the IMF, and the observed clumps are bound pre-stellar cores. In this paper, we highlight a potential difficulty in this interpretation, namely that clumps of varying mass are likely to have systematically varying lifetimes. This timescale problem can effectively destroy the simi…
Dynamical collapse and fragmentation of low-metallicity cloud cores is studied using three-dimensional hydrodynamical calculations, with particular attention devoted whether the cores fragment in the dust-cooling phase or not. The cores become elongated in this phase, being unstable to non-spherical perturbation due to the sudden temperature decrease. In the metallicity range of 10^{-6}-10^{-5}Z_sun, cores with an initial axis ratio >2 reach a critical value of the axis ratio (>30) and fragment into multiple small clumps. This provides a possible mechanism to produce low-mass stars in ultra-me…
The initial mass function (IMF) of metal-free stars that form in the initial starburst of massive (virial temperatures >10^4K) metal-free protogalaxies is studied. In particular, we focus on the effect of H2 photodissociation by pre-existing stars on the fragmentation mass scale, presumedly determined by the Jeans mass at the end of the initial free-fall phase, i.e., at the so-called ``loitering phase,'' characterized by the local temperature minimum. Photodissociation diminishes the Jeans mass at the loitering phase, thereby reducing the fragmentation mass scale of primordial clouds. Thus, in…
The role played by velocity fields in the fragmentation of a cold medium and in the formation of protostars is studied. The velocity field is modeled with a compressible turbulent flow. A supersonic turbulent velocity field can fragment the medium into clumps of mass smaller than a local Jeans' mass, and therefore stabilize the medium against the formation of protostars. Based on this idea, the protostar formation efficiency and the protostar mass distribution are determined as functions of the following ambient parameters: average density $n_{0}$, average temperature $T_{0}$, r.m.s. turbulent…
We review the main results from recent numerical simulations of turbulent fragmentation and star formation. Specifically, we discuss the observed scaling relationships, the ``quiescent'' (subsonic) nature of many star-forming cores, their energy balance, their synthesized polarized dust emission, the ages of stars associated with the molecular gas from which they have formed, the mass spectra of clumps, and the density and column density probability distribution function of the gas. We then give a critical discussion on recent attempts to explain and/or predict the star formation efficiency an…
Hubble Space telescope (HST) images of merging galaxy system VV29 reveal the 0.3 Mpc baryonic-dark-matter (BDM) halo composed of primordial protoglobularstarcluster (PGC) clumps of planets. Star-cluster-wakes trace the merger by formation of stars from the planets. Aligned young globular star clusters (YGCs), star-wakes and dust-trails show the frictional, spiral passage of galaxy fragments VV29cdef in a long tail-like galaxy (VV29b) as the fragments merge on the accretion disk plane of the central spiral galaxy VV29a. The observations confirm the hydro-gravitational-dynamics (HGD) prediction …
We investigate the evolution of star-forming gas-rich disks, using a 3D chemodynamical model including a dark halo, stars, and a two-phase interstellar medium with feedback processes from the stars. We show that galaxy evolution proceeds along very different routes depending on whether it is the gas disk or the stellar disk which first becomes unstable, as measured by the respective Q-parameters. This in turn depends on the uncertain efficiency of energy dissipation of the cold cloud component from which stars form. When the cold gas cools efficiently and drives the instability, the galactic d…
We performed simulations of self-gravitating hydrodynamic turbulence to model the formation of filaments, clumps and cores in molecular clouds. We find that when the mass on the initial computational grid is comparable to the Jeans mass, turbulent pressure is able to prevent gravitational collapse. When the turbulence has damped away sufficiently, gravitational collapse can occur, and the resulting structure closely resembles the pre-singularity collapse of an isothermal sphere of Penston (1969). If several Jeans masses are initially placed on the grid, turbulence may not be sufficient to prev…
We investigate the mass function of cold, dusty clumps in 11 low- and high-mass star-forming regions. Using a homogeneous fitting technique, we analyze the shape of each region's clump mass function and examine the commonalities among them. We find that the submillimeter continuum clump mass function in low-mass star-forming regions is typically best fit by a lognormal distribution, while that in high-mass star-forming regions is better fit by a double power law. A single power law clump mass distribution is ruled out in all cases. Fitting all of the regions with a double power law, we find th…
Over the last two decades, realistic studies have often concluded that the first bound objects to form can be very small, much smaller than a solar mass. After recombination, the Jeans mass drops rapidly to the order of a Giant Molecular Cloud (GMC) mass ($\sim 10^5$ M$_\odot$), and the H$_2$ cooling can make the collapse quasi-isothermal; this leads to recursive fragmentation, and formation of clumps so dense that 3-body reactions transform the gas almost entirely to the molecular phase. This could lead to star formation in some places, but since star formation is very inefficient, most of th…
We present submillimeter continuum maps at 450 and 850 microns of a 12 x 8 arcminute region of the NGC 7538 high-mass star-forming region, made using the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We used an automated clump-finding algorithm to identify 67 clumps in the 450 micron image and 77 in the 850 micron image. Contrary to previous studies, we find a positive correlation between high spectral index, alpha, and high submillimeter flux, with the difference being accounted for by different treatments of the error beam. We interpret the higher sp…
