Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-05-18
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
36 pages, 13 figures, accepted in ApJ
Scientific paper
We present simulations of initially stable isothermal clouds exposed to ionising radiation from a discrete external source, and identify the conditions that lead to radiatively driven implosion and star formation. We use the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics code SEREN and an HEALPix-based photo-ionisation algorithm to simulate the propagation of the ionising radiation and the resulting dynamical evolution of the cloud. We find that the incident ionising flux, $\Phi_{_{\rm LyC}}$, is the critical parameter determining the cloud evolution. At moderate fluxes, a large fraction of the cloud mass is converted into stars. As the flux is increased, the fraction of the cloud mass that is converted into stars and the mean masses of the individual stars both decrease. Very high fluxes simply disperse the cloud. Newly-formed stars tend to be concentrated along the central axis of the cloud (i.e. the axis pointing in the direction of the incident flux). For given cloud parameters, the time, $t_{_\star}$, at which star formation starts is proportional to $\Phi_{_{\rm LyC}}^{-1/3}$. The pattern of star formation found in the simulations is similar to that observed in bright-rimmed clouds.
Bisbas Thomas G.
Hubber David A.
Walch Stefanie
Whitworth Anthony P.
Wunsch Richard
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