Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008arep...52..985t&link_type=abstract
Astronomy Reports, Volume 52, Issue 12, pp.985-996
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
1
97.10.Bt, 97.10.Cv, 97.10.Me, 97.10.Nf
Scientific paper
We consider the formation of massive stars under the assumption that a young star accretes material from the protostellar cloud through its accretion disk while losing gas in the polar directions via its stellar wind. The mass of the star reaches its maximum when the intensity of the gradually strengthening stellar wind of the young star becomes equal to the accretion rate. We show that the maximum mass of the forming stars increases with the temperature of gas in the protostellar cloud T 0, since the rate at which the protostellar matter is accreted increases with T 0. Numerical modeling indicates that the maximum mass of the forming stars increases to ˜900 M &sun; for T 0 ˜ 300 K. Such high temperatures of the protostellar gas can be reached either in dense star-formation regions or in the vicinity of bright active galactic nuclei. It is also shown that, the lower the abundance of heavy elements in the initial stellar material Z, the larger the maximum mass of the star, since the mass-loss rate due to the stellar wind decreases with decreasing Z. This suggests that supermassive stars with masses up to 106 M &sun; could be formed at early stages in the evolution of the Universe, in young galaxies that are almost devoid of heavy elements. Under the current conditions, for T 0 = (30 100) K, the maximum mass of a star can reach ˜100 M &sun;, as is confirmed by observations. Another opportunity for the most massive stars to increase their masses emerges in connection with the formation and early stages of evolution of the most massive close binary systems: the most massive stars can be produced either by coalescence of the binary components or via mass transfer in such systems.
Fedorova Alexandra V.
Tutukov Aleksandr V.
No associations
LandOfFree
The formation and evolution of the most massive stars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The formation and evolution of the most massive stars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The formation and evolution of the most massive stars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1102295