The Most Luminous Protostars in Molecular Clouds: A Hint to Understand the Stellar Initial Mass Function

Details The Most Luminous Protostars in Molecular Clouds: A Hint to Understand the Stellar Initial Mass Function The Most Luminous Protostars in Molecular Clouds: A Hint to Understand the Stellar Initial Mass Function

Feb 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001pasj...53...85d&link_type=abstract

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, vol.53, no. 1, p. 85-92.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

26

Infrared: Stars, Ism: Clouds, Ism: Molecules, Stars: Formation, Stars: Luminosity Function, Mass Function

Scientific paper

The maximum luminosity of protostars forming in molecular clouds has been investigated as a function of the parent cloud mass on the basis of a rich cloud sample searched for in the literature. In total, we gathered 499 molecular clouds among the published data, out of which 243 clouds were found to be associated with protostellar candidates selected from the IRAS point-source catalog. A diagram of the maximum stellar luminosity in each cloud and the parent cloud mass shows that the protostars in the clouds associated with H II regions are apparently more luminous than those in clouds away from H II regions over the entire cloud mass range investigated (1< MCL / Msolar< 106 ). In addition, we found that there are well-defined upper and lower limits in the maximum stellar luminosity distribution with the lower limit having a steeper dependence on the cloud mass (LMAX>propt M1.5CL) than the upper one(LMAXpropt M0.8CL). All of these features can be naturally accounted for if we assume that the luminosity function of protostars is controlled by the cloud mass and the external pressure imposed on the cloud surface. We introduce a simple model for the stellar luminosity function as a function of these quantities, which should be closely related to the stellar initial mass function.

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