Other
Scientific paper
May 1990
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990apj...355..172r&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 355, May 20, 1990, p. 172-181. Research supported by NSERC.
Other
19
Interstellar Matter, Molecular Clouds, Polytropic Processes, Star Formation, Binary Stars, Gravitational Effects, Spatial Distribution
Scientific paper
Two-dimensional hydrodynamic calculations were performed to study the collapse and fragmentation of initially uniform, nonrotating axisymmetric clouds with isothermal and polytropic equations of state for various ratios of length to diameter L/D and values of the polytropic index gamma. The outcome of the collapse depends on the initial Jeans number of the cloud J(0) (ratio of gravitational to thermal energies): if J(0) is smaller than J(c), the cloud rebounds, so it is not gravitationally bound, and if J(0) is greater than J(c), it collapses irreversibly. A simple linear relation is found between the values of the critical Jeans numbers J(c) for a given gamma and their corresponding values in the isothermal case, indicating that the effects of pressure on the outcome of the collapse are independent of cloud geometry. For sufficiently high values of J(0), the cloud forms two fragments along the axis of the cylinder. Values of J(2-frag), the minimum J(0) for which these fragments survive, conjectured by Bastien (1983), are determined numerically. It is suggested that the fragmentation of elongated clouds with L/D is greater than 1.7 and J(0) is greater than J(2-frag) is an important way of forming binary stars which are difficult to form otherwise.
Bastien Pierre
Rouleau Francois
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