Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2004-05-31
Astrophys.J. 609 (2004) L83-L86
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
10 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL
Scientific paper
10.1086/422839
We investigate numerically the combined effects of supersonic turbulence, strong magnetic fields and ambipolar diffusion on cloud evolution leading to star formation. We find that, in clouds that are initially magnetically subcritical, supersonic turbulence can speed up star formation, through enhanced ambipolar diffusion in shocks. The speedup overcomes a major objection to the standard scenario of low-mass star formation involving ambipolar diffusion, since the diffusion time scale at the average density of a molecular cloud is typically longer than the cloud life time. At the same time, the strong magnetic field can prevent the large-scale supersonic turbulence from converting most of the cloud mass into stars in one (short) turbulence crossing time, and thus alleviate the high efficiency problem associated with the turbulence-controlled picture for low-mass star formation. We propose that relatively rapid but inefficient star formation results from supersonic collisions of somewhat subcritical gas in strongly magnetized, turbulent clouds. The salient features of this shock-accelerated, ambipolar diffusion-regulated scenario are demonstrated with numerical experiments.
Li Zhi-Yun
Nakamura Fumitaka
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