Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Aug 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000phdt.........5d&link_type=abstract
PhD Thesis, University of Wisconsin--Madison, USA, 2000.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
2
Scientific paper
To investigate the effect that massive stars have on low-mass star formation, we have conducted a detailed study of the young stellar population of the λ Orionis star-forming complex. To do this, we first surveyed the complex to enumerate the young stellar population, including both high- and low-mass stars. Measuring the ages and masses of these stars by photometric comparison with stellar evolution models, we have reconstructed the star-formation history and initial mass function of the region. The stellar ages demonstrate that the current episode of star formation started gradually about 8--10 Myr ago, showing no signs of triggered or sequential star formation. The birth rate increased continuously until 1 Myr ago when a supernova exploded, cleared away the gas from which stars were forming in the center of the star-forming region. This terminated low-mass star formation within 15 pc of the massive stars while further away stars continue to form today. Globally, the mass function resembles that of the field but it shows substantial local variation across the star-forming region, favoring massive stars in the center and low-mass stars elsewhere. However, we do not see strictly bimodal star formation, as the low-mass stellar density is highest in the same location as the OB stars. We have discovered a marked lack of accretion disks (diagnosed by stellar Hα emission) around the low-mass stars in the vicinity of the massive stars. We suspect that close encounters with OB stars or the supernova shock diminished the disks of those stars. Since the stars with or without accretion disks span all ages, we conclude that the absence of disks is the product of environment, not just evolution. Thus we find that the star-forming environment near OB stars is detrimental to further formation. The massive stars may disperse the gas from which stars form and they may destroy the disks by which low-mass stars accrete that gas. Nonetheless, low-mass stars do form in great numbers both near to and far from their massive neighbors. http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/thesis/
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