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Register a new userThe Formation of Low-Mass Binary Star Systems Via Turbulent Fragmentation
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We characterize the infall rate onto protostellar systems forming in self-gravitating radiation-hydrodynamic simulations. Using two dimensionless parameters to determine disks susceptability to gravitational fragmentation, we infer limits on protostellar system multiplicity and the mechanism of binary formation. We show that these parameters give robust predictions even in the case of marginally resolved protostellar disks. We find that protostellar systems with radiation feedback predominately form binaries via turbulent fragmentation, not disk instability, and we predict turbulent fragmentation is the dominant channel for binary formation for low-mass stars. We clearly demonstrate that systems forming in simulations including radiative feedback have fundamentally different parameters than those in purely hydrodynamic simulations.
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Understanding the formation of wide binary systems of very low mass stars (M $le$ 0.1 Msun) is challenging. The most obvious route is via widely separated low-mass collapsing fragments produced through turbulent fragmentation of a molecular core. However, close binaries/multiples from disk fragmentation can also evolve to wide binaries over a few initial crossing times of the stellar cluster through tidal evolution. Finding an isolated low mass wide binary system in the earliest stage of formation, before tidal evolution could occur, would prove that turbulent fragmentation is a viable mechanism for (very) low mass wide binaries. Here we report high resolution ALMA observations of a known wide-separation protostellar binary, showing that each component has a circumstellar disk. The system is too young to have evolved from a close binary and the disk axes are misaligned, providing strong support for the turbulent fragmentation model. Masses of both stars are derived from the Keplerian rotation of the disks; both are very low mass stars.
We construct a set of binary evolutionary sequences for systems composed by a normal, solar composition, donor star together with a neutron star. We consider a variety of masses for each star as well as for the initial orbital period corresponding to systems that evolve to ultra-compact or millisecond pulsar-helium white dwarf pairs. Specifically, we select a set of donor star masses of 0.50, 0.65, 0.80, 1.00, 1.25, 1.50, 1.75, 2.00, 2.25, 2.50, 3.00, and 3.50 solar masses, whereas for the accreting neutron star we consider initial masses values of 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, and 1.4 solar masses. The considered initial orbital period interval ranges from 0.5 to 12 days. It is found that the evolution of systems, with fixed initial values for the orbital period and the mass of the normal donor star, heavily depends upon the mass of the neutron star. In some cases, varying the initial value of the neutron star mass, we obtain evolved configurations ranging from ultra-compact to widely separated objects. We also analyse the dependence of the final orbital period with the mass of the white dwarf. In agreement with previous expectations, our calculations show that the final orbital period-white dwarf mass relation is fairly insensitive to the initial neutron star mass value. A new period-mass relation based on our own calculations is proposed, which is in good agreement with period-mass relations available in the literature. As consequence of considering a set of values for the initial neutron star mass, these models allow finding different plausible initial configurations (donor and neutron star masses and orbital period interval) for some of the best observed binary systems of the kind we are interested in here. We apply our calculations to analyse the case of PSR J0437-4715.
Understanding how young stars and their circumstellar disks form and evolve is key to explain how planets form. The evolution of the star and the disk is regulated by different processes, both internal to the system or related to their environment. The former include accretion of material onto the central star, wind emission, and photoevaporation of the disk due to high-energy radiation from the central star. These are best studied spectroscopically, and the distance to the star is a key parameter in all these studies. Here we present new estimates of the distance to a complex of nearby star-forming clouds obtained combining TGAS distances with measurement of extinction on the line of sight. Furthermore, we show how we plan to study the effects of the environment on the evolution of disks with Gaia, using a kinematic modelling code we have developed to model young star-forming regions.
I review theoretical models of star formation and how they apply across the stellar mass spectrum. Several distinct theories are under active study for massive star formation, especially Turbulent Core Accretion, Competitive Accretion and Protostellar Mergers, leading to distinct observational predictions. These include the types of initial conditions, the structure of infall envelopes, disks and outflows, and the relation of massive star formation to star cluster formation. Even for Core Accretion models, there are several major uncertainties related to the timescale of collapse, the relative importance of different processes for preventing fragmentation in massive cores, and the nature of disks and outflows. I end by discussing some recent observational results that are helping to improve our understanding of these processes.
We present observations at 7 mm that fully resolve the two circumstellar disks, and a reanalyses of archival observations at 3.5 cm that resolve along their major axes the two ionized jets, of the class I binary protostellar system L1551 NE. We show that the two circumstellar disks are better fit by a shallow inner and steep outer power-law than a truncated power-law. The two disks have very different transition radii between their inner and outer regions of $sim$18.6 AU and $sim$8.9 AU respectively. Assuming that they are intrinsically circular and geometrically thin, we find that the two circumstellar disks are parallel with each other and orthogonal in projection to their respective ionized jets. Furthermore, the two disks are closely aligned if not parallel with their circumbinary disk. Over an interval of $sim$10 yr, source B (possessing the circumsecondary disk) has moved northwards with respect to and likely away from source A, indicating an orbital motion in the same direction as the rotational motion of their circumbinary disk. All the aforementioned elements therefore share the same axis for their angular momentum, indicating that L1551 NE is a product of rotationally-driven fragmentation of its parental core. Assuming a circular orbit, the relative disk sizes are compatible with theoretical predictions for tidal truncation by a binary system having a mass ratio of $sim$0.2, in agreement with the reported relative separations of the two protostars from the center of their circumbinary disk. The transition radii of both disks, however, are a factor of $gtrsim$1.5 smaller than their predicted tidally-truncated radii.
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