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An unstable truth: How massive stars get their mass

Krumholz, Mark; Rosen, Anna L.; McKee, Christopher F.; Klein, Richard I.

Description

The pressure exerted by massive stars' radiation fields is an important mechanism regulating their formation. Detailed simulation of massive star formation therefore requires an accurate treatment of radiation. However, all published simulations have either used a diffusion approximation of limited validity; have only been able to simulate a single star fixed in space, thereby suppressing potentially important instabilities; or did not provide adequate resolution at locations where...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorKrumholz, Mark
dc.contributor.authorRosen, Anna L.
dc.contributor.authorMcKee, Christopher F.
dc.contributor.authorKlein, Richard I.
dc.date.accessioned2018-11-29T22:53:26Z
dc.date.available2018-11-29T22:53:26Z
dc.identifier.issn0035-8711
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/152471
dc.description.abstractThe pressure exerted by massive stars' radiation fields is an important mechanism regulating their formation. Detailed simulation of massive star formation therefore requires an accurate treatment of radiation. However, all published simulations have either used a diffusion approximation of limited validity; have only been able to simulate a single star fixed in space, thereby suppressing potentially important instabilities; or did not provide adequate resolution at locations where instabilities may develop. To remedy this, we have developed a new, highly accurate radiation algorithm that properly treats the absorption of the direct radiation field from stars and the re-emission and processing by interstellar dust. We use our new tool to perform 3D radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of the collapse of massive pre-stellar cores with laminar and turbulent initial conditions and properly resolve regions where we expect instabilities to grow. We find that mass is channelled to the stellar system via gravitational and Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instabilities, in agreement with previous results using stars capable of moving, but in disagreement with methods where the star is held fixed or with simulations that do not adequately resolve the development of RT instabilities. For laminar initial conditions, proper treatment of the direct radiation field produces later onset of instability, but does not suppress it entirely provided the edges of radiation-dominated bubbles are adequately resolved. Instabilities arise immediately for turbulent pre-stellar cores because the initial turbulence seeds the instabilities. Our results suggest that RT features should be present around accreting massive stars throughout their formation
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.publisherBlackwell Publishing Ltd
dc.sourceMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
dc.titleAn unstable truth: How massive stars get their mass
dc.typeJournal article
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.citationvolume463
dc.date.issued2016
local.identifier.absfor020102 - Astronomical and Space Instrumentation
local.identifier.absfor020110 - Stellar Astronomy and Planetary Systems
local.identifier.ariespublicationa383154xPUB5453
local.type.statusPublished Version
local.contributor.affiliationKrumholz, Mark, College of Science, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationRosen, Anna L., Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California
local.contributor.affiliationMcKee, Christopher F., UC Berkeley
local.contributor.affiliationKlein, Richard I., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
local.bibliographicCitation.issue3
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage2553
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage2573
local.identifier.doi10.1093/mnras/stw2153
dc.date.updated2018-11-29T07:52:47Z
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-85015043193
local.identifier.thomsonID000393566000022
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
CollectionsANU Research Publications

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