Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-05-10
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
19 pages, 17 figures, 3 tables
Scientific paper
We present the first non-LTE, co-moving frame molecular line calculations of a star-forming cluster simulated using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), from which we derive high-resolution synthetic observations. We have resampled a particle representation onto an adaptive mesh and self-consistently solved the equations of statistical equilibrium in the co-moving frame, using TORUS, a three-dimensional adaptive mesh refined (AMR) radiative transfer (RT) code. We verified the applicability of the code to the conditions of the SPH simulation by testing its output against other codes. We find that the level populations obtained for optically thick and thin scenarios closely match the ensemble average of the other codes. We have used the code to obtain non-LTE level populations of multiple molecular species throughout the cluster and have created three-dimensional velocity-resolved spatial maps of the emergent intensity. Line profiles of cores traced by N2H+ (1-0) are compared to probes of low density gas, 13CO (1-0) and C18O (1-0), surrounding the cores along the line of sight. The relative differences of the line-centre velocities are shown to be small compared to the velocity dispersion, matching recent observations. We conclude that one cannot reject competitive accretion as a viable theory of star formation based on observed velocity profiles.
Acreman David M.
Bate Matthew R.
Harries Tim J.
Rundle David
No associations
LandOfFree
Three-dimensional molecular line transfer: A simulated star-forming region 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 Three-dimensional molecular line transfer: A simulated star-forming region, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Three-dimensional molecular line transfer: A simulated star-forming region will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-382959