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arXiv 1603.04557astro-ph.GAastro-ph.SR
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什么物理决定了IMF的峰值?辐射-磁流体动力学模拟中核结构的启示

What Physics Determines the Peak of the IMF? Insights from the Structure of Cores in Radiation-Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations

Mark R. Krumholz, Andrew T. Myers, Richard I. Klein, Christopher F. McKee

摘要:

当恒星形成云坍缩时,其中的气体会碎裂成越来越小的质量。人们可能会天真地认为,这个过程会持续到最小的质量,在动力学时间尺度上,它能够辐射掉它的结合能,碎裂的不透明度极限,在$\sim 0.01$ $M_\odot$。然而,所观察到的初始质量函数(IMF)的峰值位于质量高出$20-30$的因子处,这表明在达到不透明度极限之前,某些其他机制阻止了碎裂。在本文中,我们分析了辐射磁流体动力学模拟的恒星团簇形成在典型的银河系环境中,以确定是什么物理过程限制在他们的碎片。我们研究了模拟中形成的恒星附近的区域,以确定被热压力和磁压力阻止碎裂的质量。我们表明,在小尺度上,恒星辐射加热增强的热压力是限制气体进一步碎片化能力的主要机制。在褐矮星质量状态下,$\sim 0.01$ $M_\odot$,在模拟中形成的典型物体被气体包围,其质量是其自身质量的几倍,无法逃逸或碎片,而是可能吸积。这种机制解释了为什么$\sim 0.01$ $M_\odot$对象很少:除非外部代理介入(例如,激波会剥离它们周围的气体),它们会通过吸积周围的热气体而生长。相比之下,当恒星成长到质量为$\sim 0.2$ $M_\odot$的时候,加热气体的质量只有中心恒星质量的百分之几十,太小了,不会大幅度改变其最终质量。这自然解释了IMF峰值位于$\sim 0.2$ $M_\odot$的原因。

英文摘要:

As star-forming clouds collapse, the gas within them fragments to ever-smaller masses. Naively one might expect this process to continue down to the smallest mass that is able to radiate away its binding energy on a dynamical timescale, the opacity limit for fragmentation, at $\sim 0.01$ $M_\odot$. However, the observed peak of the initial mass function (IMF) lies a factor of $20-30$ higher in mass, suggesting that some other mechanism halts fragmentation before the opacity limit is reached. In this paper we analyse radiation-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of star cluster formation in typical Milky Way environments in order to determine what physical process limits fragmentation in them. We examine the regions in the vicinity of stars that form in the simulations to determine the amounts of mass that are prevented from fragmenting by thermal and magnetic pressure. We show that, on small scales, thermal pressure enhanced by stellar radiation heating is the dominant mechanism limiting the ability of the gas to further fragment. In the brown dwarf mass regime, $\sim 0.01$ $M_\odot$, the typical object that forms in the simulations is surrounded by gas whose mass is several times its own that is unable to escape or fragment, and instead is likely to accrete. This mechanism explains why $\sim 0.01$ $M_\odot$ objects are rare: unless an outside agent intervenes (e.g., a shock strips away the gas around them), they will grow by accreting the warmed gas around them. In contrast, by the time stars grow to masses of $\sim 0.2$ $M_\odot$, the mass of heated gas is only tens of percent of the central star mass, too small to alter its final mass by a large factor. This naturally explains why the IMF peak is at $\sim 0.2$ $M_\odot$.

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