Magnetic fields play an important role for the formation of stars in both local and high-redshift galaxies. Recent studies of dynamo amplification in the first dark matter haloes suggest that significant magnetic fields were likely present during the formation of the first stars in the Universe at redshifts of 15 and above. In this work, we study how these magnetic fields potentially impact the initial mass function (IMF) of the first stars. We perform 200 high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D), magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the collapse of primordial clouds with different initial turbulent magnetic field strengths as predicted from turbulent dynamo theory in the early Universe, forming more than 1100 first stars in total. We detect a strong statistical signature of suppressed fragmentation in the presence of strong magnetic fields, leading to a dramatic reduction in the number of first stars with masses low enough that they might be expected to survive to the present day. Additionally, strong fields shift the transition point where stars go from being mostly single to mostly multiple to higher masses. However, irrespective of the field strength, individual simulations are highly chaotic, show different levels of fragmentation and clustering, and the outcome depends on the exact realisation of the turbulence in the primordial clouds. While these are still idealised simulations that do not start from cosmological initial conditions, our work shows that magnetic fields play a key role for the primordial IMF, potentially even more so than for the present-day IMF.
We investigate the impact of different initial conditions for the initial density profile and the initial turbulence on the formation process of protostellar clusters. We study the collapse of dense molecula r cloud cores with three-dimensional adaptive mesh refinement simulations. We focus our discussion on the distribution of the gas among the protostellar objects in the turbulent dynamical cores. Despite the large variations in the initial configurations and the resulting gas and cluster morphology we find that all stellar clusters follow a very similar gas accretion behaviour. Once seconda…
We present a detailed parameter study of collapsing turbulent cloud cores, varying the initial density profile and the initial turbulent velocity field. We systematically investigate the influence of different initial conditions on the star formation process, mainly focusing on the fragmentation, the number of formed stars, and the resulting mass distributions. Our study compares four different density profiles (uniform, Bonnor-Ebert type, $ρ\propto r^{-1.5}$, and $ρ\propto r^{-2}$), combined with six different supersonic turbulent velocity fields (compressive, mixed, and solenoidal, initialis…
We investigate the formation of protostellar clusters during the collapse of dense molecular cloud cores with a focus on the evolution of potential and kinetic energy, the degree of substructure, and the early phase of mass segregation. Our study is based on a series of hydrodynamic simulations of dense cores, where we vary the initial density profile and the initial turbulent velocity. In the three-dimensional adaptive mesh refinement simulations, we follow the dynamical formation of filaments and protostars until a star formation efficiency of 20%. Despite the different initial configuration…
Submillimeter dust polarization measurements of a sample of 50 star-forming regions, observed with the SMA and the CSO covering pc-scale clouds to mpc-scale cores, are analyzed in order to quantify the magnetic field importance. The magnetic field misalignment $δ$ -- the local angle between magnetic field and dust emission gradient -- is found to be a prime observable, revealing distinct distributions for sources where the magnetic field is preferentially aligned with or perpendicular to the source minor axis. Source-averaged misalignment angles $\langle|δ|\rangle$ fall into systematically dif…
We introduce a theory for the development of a transitional column density $Σ_{\rm TP}$ between the lognormal and the power-law forms of the probability distribution function (PDF) in a molecular cloud. Our turbulent magnetohydrodynamic simulations show that the value of $Σ_{\rm TP}$ increases as the strength of both the initial magnetic field and turbulence increases. We develop an analytic expression for $Σ_{\rm TP}$ based on the interplay of turbulence, a (strong) magnetic field, and gravity. The transition value $Σ_{\rm TP}$ scales with $\mathcal{M}^2_{\rm 0}$, the square of the initial so…
(Abbreviated) We investigate the interplay between magnetic (B) field, gravity, and turbulence in the fragmentation process of cores within the filamentary infrared dark cloud G34.43+00.24. We observe the magnetic field (B) morphology across G34.43 and compare with the kinematics obtained from N2H+ across the filament. We derive local velocity gradients from N2H+, tracing motion in the plane of sky, and compare with the observed local B field orientations in the plane of sky. Besides a large-scale east-west velocity gradient, we find a close alignment between local B field orientations and loc…
In this paper, an investigation on the relative importance of the thermal gas, radiation, and (minimum-energy) magnetic pressures around $\approx$200 star-forming regions in a sample of nearby normal and luminous infrared galaxies is presented. Given the range of galaxy distances, pressure estimates are made on spatial scales spanning $\sim$0.1$-3$kpc. The ratio of thermal gas-to-radiation pressures does not appear to significantly depend on star formation rate surface density ($Σ_{\rm SFR}$), but exhibits a steady decrease with increasing physical size of the aperture over which the quantitie…
We consider the role of thermal diffusion due to turbulence and radiation on accretion bursts that occur in protoplanetary discs which contain dead zones. Using 1D viscous disc models we show that diffusive radial transport of heat is important during the gravo-magnetic limit cycle, and can strongly modify the duration and frequency of accretion outbursts. When the Prandtl number is large - such that turbulent diffusion of heat is unimportant - radial radiative diffusion reduces the burst duration compared to models with no diffusive transport of heat. When the Prandtl number is small ($\lesss…
Understanding the relative importance of magnetic field, gravity, and turbulence in star formation at the hub of the giant molecular cloud G148.24+00.41
Star-forming gas clouds are strongly magnetized, and their ionization fractions are high enough to place them close to the regime of ideal magnetohydrodyamics on all but the smallest size scales. In this review we discuss the effects of magnetic fields on the star formation rate (SFR) in these clouds, and on the mass spectrum of the fragments that are the outcome of the star formation process, the stellar initial mass function (IMF). Current numerical results suggest that magnetic fields by themselves are minor players in setting either the SFR or the IMF, changing star formation rates and med…
Magnetic fields are known to play a crucial role in the star formation process, particularly in the formation of jets and outflows from protostellar discs. The magnetic field structure in star forming regions is not always uniform and ordered, often containing regions of magnetic turbulence. We present grid-based, magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of the collapse of a 1$\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ cloud core, to investigate the influence of complex magnetic field structures on outflow formation, morphology and efficiency. We compare three cases: a uniform field, a partially turbulent field and a fu…
The binding energy liberated by the coalescence of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries during galaxy mergers is thought to be responsible for the low density cores often found in bright elliptical galaxies. We use high-resolution $N$-body and Monte Carlo techniques to perform single and multi-stage galaxy merger simulations and systematically study the dependence of the central galaxy properties on the binary mass ratio, the slope of the initial density cusps, and the number of mergers experienced. We study both the amount of depleted stellar mass (or ``mass deficit'), $M_{\rm def}$, and t…
Magnetic fields play a very important role in the evolution of galaxies through their direct impact on star formation and stellar feedback-induced turbulence. However, their co-evolution with these processes has still not been thoroughly investigated, and the possible effect of the initial conditions is largely unknown. This letter presents the first results from a series of high-resolution numerical models, aimed at deciphering the effect of the initial conditions and of stellar feedback on the evolution of the galactic magnetic field in isolated, Milky-Way-like galaxies. The models start wit…
Magnetic field dragged from the galactic disk along with inflowing gas can provide vertical support to the geometrically and optically thick pc-scale torus in AGN. Using the Soloviev solution initially developed for Tokamaks we derive an analytical model for a rotating torus supported and confined by magnetic field. We further perform three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamics simulations of X-ray irradiated pc-scale magnetized tori. We follow the time evolution and compare models which adopt initial conditions derived from our analytic model with simulations in which the initial magnetic flux is…
Simulations are presented of the photoionisation of three dense gas clouds threaded by magnetic fields, showing the dynamical effects of different initial magnetic field orientations and strengths. For moderate magnetic field strengths the initial radiation-driven implosion phase is not strongly affected by the field geometry, and the photoevaporation flows are also similar. Over longer timescales, the simulation with an initial field parallel to the radiation propagation direction (parallel field) remains basically axisymmetric, whereas in the simulation with a perpendicular initial field the…
We examine the linear stability of a filamentary cloud permeated by a perpendicular magnetic field. The initial magnetic field is assumed to be uniform and perpendicular to the cloud axis. The model cloud is assumed to have a Plummer-like density profile and to be supported against the self-gravity by turbulence. The effects of turbulence are taken into account by enhancing the effective pressure of a low density gas. We derive the effective pressure as a function of the density from the condition of the hydrostatic balance. It is shown that the model cloud is more unstable against radial coll…
The collapse and fragmentation of initially prolate and oblate, magnetic molecular clouds is calculated in three dimensions with a gravitational, radiative hydrodynamics code. The code includes magnetic field effects in an approximate manner: magnetic pressure, tension, braking, and ambipolar diffusion are all modelled. The parameters varied for both the initially prolate and oblate clouds are the initial degree of central concentration of the radial density profile, the initial angular velocity, and the efficiency of magnetic braking (represented by a factor $f_{mb} = 10^{-4}$ or $10^{-3}$). …
This paper suggests the idea that all neutron stars experienced at birth an ultrafast decay of their magnetic fields from their initial values to their current surface values. If the electromagnetic energy radiated during this field decay is converted into kinetic and rotational energies of the neutron star then the decay time is of the order of 10^(-4) s provided that the initial magnetic fields lie in the range of 10^(15)-10^(16) G and the initial periods in the range 1-20 ms. This means that all neutron stars are born with magnetic fields typical of magnetars and periods typical of millisec…
