Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2003-11-16
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 347 (2004) L47
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in MNRAS (Letters section)
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07405.x
We explore the idea that the power-law tail in the mass function of protostellar condensations and stars arises from the accretion of ambient cloud material on to a condensation, coupled with a nonuniform (exponential) distribution of accretion lifetimes. This model allows for the generation of power-law distributions in all star-forming regions, even if condensations start with a lognormal mass distribution, as may be expected from the central limit theorem, and supported by some recent numerical simulations of turbulent molecular clouds. For a condensation mass $m$ with growth rate $dm/dt \propto m$, an analytic three-parameter probability density function is derived; it resembles a lognormal at low mass and has a pure power-law high-mass tail. An approximate power-law tail is also expected for other growth laws, and we calculate the distribution for the plausible case $dm/dt \propto m^{2/3}$. Furthermore, any single time snapshot of the masses of condensations that are still accreting (and are of varying ages) also yields a distribution with a power-law tail similar to that of the IMF.
Basu Shantanu
Jones Carol E.
No associations
LandOfFree
On the Power-Law Tail in the Mass Function of Protostellar Condensations and 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 On the Power-Law Tail in the Mass Function of Protostellar Condensations and Stars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and On the Power-Law Tail in the Mass Function of Protostellar Condensations and Stars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-635161