Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jun 1976
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1976apj...206..917v&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal, vol. 206, June 15, 1976, pt. 1, p. 917-933.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
13
Galactic Evolution, Galactic Nuclei, Gravitational Collapse, Interstellar Gas, Astronomical Models, Fragmentation, Free Fall, Jeans Theory, Luminosity, Quasars, Stellar Evolution
Scientific paper
Simple models are used to investigate the basic properties of massive collapsing dust clouds (10,000 to 100 million solar masses). The roles of fragmentation and energy balance in the evolution of a massive cloud are analyzed, and these effects are applied to a cloud which starts with equipartition of thermal, turbulent, and magnetic energy. The evolutionary process is followed in detail, including the approach to radiative equilibrium, the flash of luminosity before the cloud becomes opaque, free fall with dominant radiation energy, effects of dust, and the moment of nuclear ignition. The drastic modification of the evolutionary process by nuclear energy production is described. The results show that clouds below about 100 solar masses become stars, the collapse of clouds below about 3 million solar masses is stopped by nuclear ignition, clouds above 3 million solar masses do not have enough nuclear energy to stop their collapse, and clouds above 40 million solar masses reach their Schwarzschild radii before nuclear ignition. It is also found that clouds between about 300,000 and 1 million solar masses may explode with double structures or as jets and that exploding clouds with greater or less mass tend to have rough spherical symmetry. It is concluded that these explosive processes may account for some of the activity in exploding galaxies, radio galaxies, and quasars.
Saslaw William C.
von Hoerner Sebastian
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