Does sub-cluster merging accelerate mass segregation in local star formation?

Details Does sub-cluster merging accelerate mass segregation in local star formation? Does sub-cluster merging accelerate mass segregation in local star formation?

2009-08-03

arxiv.org/abs/0908.0253v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

9 pages, submitted to MNRAS

Scientific paper

The nearest site of massive star formation in Orion is dominated by the Trapezium subsystem, with its four OB stars and numerous companions. The question of how these stars came to be in such close proximity has implications for our understanding of massive star formation and early cluster evolution. A promising route toward rapid mass segregation was proposed by McMillan et al. (2007), who showed that the merger product of faster-evolving sub clusters can inherit their apparent dynamical age from their progenitors. In this paper we briefly consider this process at a size and time scale more suited for local and perhaps more typical star formation, with stellar numbers from the hundreds to thousands. We find that for reasonable ages and cluster sizes, the merger of sub-clusters can indeed lead to compact configurations of the most massive stars, a signal seen both in Nature and in large-scale hydrodynamic simulations of star formation from collapsing molecular clouds, and that sub-virial initial conditions can make an un-merged cluster display a similar type of mass segregation. Additionally, we discuss a variation of the minimum spanning tree mass-segregation technique introduced by Allison et al. (2009).

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Does sub-cluster merging accelerate mass segregation in local star formation? does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Does sub-cluster merging accelerate mass segregation in local star formation?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Does sub-cluster merging accelerate mass segregation in local star formation? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-453981