Analytical, time-dependent mass function and fragmentation rate due to gravitational instability

Details Analytical, time-dependent mass function and fragmentation rate due to gravitational instability Analytical, time-dependent mass function and fragmentation rate due to gravitational instability

Apr 1986

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1986a%26a...159...49d&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 159, no. 1-2, April 1986, p. 49-64. CNR-supported research.

Statistics

Computation

25

Functions (Mathematics), Gravitational Effects, Interstellar Gas, Mass Distribution, Stellar Evolution, Time Dependence, Computational Astrophysics, Fragmentation, Gas Dynamics, Gravitational Fields, Jeans Theory

Scientific paper

An analytical, theoretical, time-dependent initial mass function is derived for the objects created in the fragmentation of a gravitationally unstable gas protocloud. The mass spectrum depends on the chemical-dynamical-radiative evolution of the protocloud, and it peaks at a mass slightly greater than the minimum Jeans mass attained throughout the evolution. A fragmentation rate mass spectrum is also analytically derived. By using an evolutionary model presented here, it is shown that the fragmentation process implies the existence of several generations of fragments, with different ranges of mass. A protogalactic evolution model, using the new theory, predicts that the first stars are created in the third generation of fragments. These can represent the 'zero-metal' population. Mass functions for various objects are elaborated from observational data. Their shapes are compared among themselves quantitatively. A striking similarity suggests the hypothesis that all the different kinds of astrophysical objects examined were formed by essentially the same process. The theoretical mass functions predicted by the evolutionary models and the fragmentation rate are quantitatively compared with the observations, yielding a remarkably good agreement.

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