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Register a new userModels for the Formation of Massive Stars
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Mark R. Krumholz
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The formation of massive stars is currently an unsolved problems in astrophysics. Understanding the formation of massive stars is essential because they dominate the luminous, kinematic, and chemical output of stars. Furthermore, their feedback is likely to play a dominant role in the evolution of molecular clouds and any subsequent star formation therein. Although significant progress has been made observationally and theoretically, we still do not have a consensus as to how massive stars form. There are two contending models to explain the formation of massive stars, Core Accretion and Competitive Accretion. They differ primarily in how and when the mass that ultimately makes up the massive star is gathered. In the core accretion model, the mass is gathered in a prestellar stage due to the overlying pressure of a stellar cluster or a massive pre-cluster cloud clump. In contrast, competitive accretion envisions that the mass is gathered during the star formation process itself, being funneled to the centre of a stellar cluster by the gravitational potential of the stellar cluster. Although these differences may not appear overly significant, they involve significant differences in terms of the physical processes involved. Furthermore, the differences also have important implications in terms of the evolutionary phases of massive star formation, and ultimately that of stellar clusters and star formation on larger scales. Here we review the dominant models, and discuss prospects for developing a better understanding of massive star formation in the future.
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There is currently no accepted theoretical framework for the formation of the most massive stars, and the manner in which protostars continue to accrete and grow in mass beyond sim10Msun is still a controversial topic. In this study we use several prescriptions of stellar accretion and a description of the Galactic gas distribution to simulate the luminosities and spatial distribution of massive protostellar population of the Galaxy. We then compare the observables of each simulation to the results of the Red MSX Source (RMS) survey, a recently compiled database of massive young stellar objects. We find that the observations are best matched by accretion rates which increase as the protostar grows in mass, such as those predicted by the turbulent core and competitive accretion (i.e. Bondi-Hoyle) models. These accelerating accretion models provide very good qualitative and quantitative fits to the data, though we are unable to distinguish between these two models on our simulations alone. We rule out models with accretion rates which are constant with time, and those which are initially very high and which fall away with time, as these produce results which are quantitatively and/or qualitatively incompatible with the observations. To simultaneously match the low- and high-luminosity YSO distribution we require the inclusion of a swollen-star pre-main-sequence phase, the length of which is well-described by the Kelvin-Helmholz timescale. Our results suggest that the lifetime of the YSO phase is sim 10^5yrs, whereas the compact Hii-region phase lasts between sim 2 - 4 times 10^5yrs depending on the final mass of the star. Finally, the absolute numbers of YSOs are best matched by a globally averaged star-formation rate for the Galaxy of 1.5-2Msun/yr.
(Abriged) At present, there are two scenarios for the formation of massive stars: 1) The accretion scenario and 2) The coalescence scenario, which implies the merging of intermediate mass stars. We examine here some properties of the first one. We calculate three different sets of birthlines, i.e. tracks followed by a continuously accreting star. First, three models with a constant accretion rate ($dot{M}_{rm{accr}}$ = $10^{-6}$, $10^{-5}$, $10^{-4}$ M$_{odot}$ yr$^{-1}$). Then several birthlines following the accretion models of Bernasconi and Maeder (cite{BM96}), which have $dot{M}_{rm{accr}}$ increasing only slightly with mass. Finally we calculate several birthlines for which $dot{M}_{accr} = dot{M}_{mathrm{ref}} ({frac{M}{M_{odot}}}) ^{phi}$, with values of $phi$ equal to 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 and also for different values of $dot{M}_{mathrm{ref}}$. The best fit to the observations of PMS stars in the HR diagram is achieved for $phi$ between 1.0 or 1.5 and for $dot{M}_{mathrm{ref}} simeq 10^{-5}$ M$_{odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. Considerations on the lifetimes favour values of $phi$ equal to 1.5. These accretion rates do well correspond to those derived from radio and IR observations of mass outflows. We emphasize the importance of the accretion scenario for shaping the IMF, and in particular for determining the upper mass limit of stars. In the accretion scenario, this upper mass limit will be given by the mass for which the accretion rate is such that the accretion induced shock luminosity is of the order of the Eddington luminosity.
The formation of the massive young stars surrounding SgrA* is still an open question. In this paper, we simulate the infall of an isothermal, turbulent molecular cloud towards the Galactic Centre (GC). As it spirals towards the GC, the molecular cloud forms a small and dense disc around SgrA*. Efficient star formation (SF) is expected to take place in such a dense disc. We model SF by means of sink particles. At ~6x10^5 yr, ~6000 solar masses of stars have formed, and are confined within a thin disc with inner and outer radius of 0.06 and 0.5 pc, respectively. Thus, this preliminary study shows that the infall of a molecular cloud is a viable scenario for the formation of massive stars around SgrA*. Further studies with more realistic radiation physics and SF will be required to better constrain this intriguing scenario.
Recent observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope show clear evidence that star formation takes place in the surrounding of young massive O-type stars, which are shaping their environment due to their powerful radiation and stellar winds. In this work we investigate the effect of ionising radiation of massive stars on the ambient interstellar medium (ISM): In particular we want to examine whether the UV-radiation of O-type stars can lead to the observed pillar-like structures and can trigger star formation. We developed a new implementation, based on a parallel Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics code (called IVINE), that allows an efficient treatment of the effect of ionising radiation from massive stars on their turbulent gaseous environment. Here we present first results at very high resolution. We show that ionising radiation can trigger the collapse of an otherwise stable molecular cloud. The arising structures resemble observed structures (e.g. the pillars of creation in the Eagle Nebula (M16) or the Horsehead Nebula B33). Including the effect of gravitation we find small regions that can be identified as formation places of individual stars. We conclude that ionising radiation from massive stars alone can trigger substantial star formation in molecular clouds.
We have calculated the pulsations of massive stars using a nonlinear hydrodynamic code including time-dependent convection. The basic structure models are based on a standard grid published by Meynet et al. (1994). Using the basic structure, we calculated envelope models, which include the outer few percent of the star. These models go down to depths of at least 2 million K. These models, which range from 40 to 85 solar masses, show a range of pulsation behaviours. We find models with very long period pulsations ( $>$ 100 d), resulting in high amplitude changes in the surface properties. We also find a few models that show outburst-like behaviour. The details of this behaviour are discussed, including calculations of the resulting wind mass-loss rates.
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