Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2008-02-29
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
11 pages, 2 figures, Submitted to ApJL, For high resolution figures see http://astro3.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/~machida/binary-metal.
Scientific paper
10.1086/590109
Cloud evolution for various metallicities is investigated by three-dimensional nested grid simulations, in which the initial ratio of rotational to gravitational energy of the host cloud \beta_0 (=10^-1 - 10^-6) and cloud metallicity Z (=0 - Z_\odot) are parameters. Starting from a central number density of n = 10^4 cm^-3, cloud evolution for 48 models is calculated until the protostar is formed (n \simeq 10^23 cm^-3) or fragmentation occurs. The fragmentation condition depends both on the initial rotational energy and cloud metallicity. Cloud rotation promotes fragmentation, while fragmentation tends to be suppressed in clouds with higher metallicity. Fragmentation occurs when \beta_0 > 10^-3 in clouds with solar metallicity, while fragmentation occurs when \beta_0 > 10^-5 in the primordial gas cloud. Clouds with lower metallicity have larger probability of fragmentation, which indicates that the binary frequency is a decreasing function of cloud metallicity. Thus, the binary frequency at the early universe (or lower metallicity environment) is higher than at present day (or higher metallicity environment). In addition, binary stars born from low-metallicity clouds have shorter orbital periods than those from high-metallicity clouds. These trends are explained in terms of the thermal history of the collapsing cloud.
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