Star cluster formation in turbulent, magnetized dense clumps with radiative and outflow feedback

Andrew T. Myers*, Richard I. Klein, Mark R. Krumholz, Christopher F. McKee

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

108 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present three ORION simulations of star cluster formation in a 1000M, turbulent molecular cloud clump, including the effects of radiative transfer, protostellar outflows, and magnetic fields. Our simulations all use self-consistent turbulent initial conditions and vary the mean mass-to-flux ratio relative to the critical value over μφ = 2,μφ = 10, and μφ =∞to gauge the influence of magnetic fields on star cluster formation. We find, in good agreement with previous studies, that magnetic fields corresponding to μφ = 2 lower the star formation rate by a factor of ≈2.4 and reduce the amount of fragmentation by a factor of ≈2 relative to the zerofield case.We also find that the field increases the characteristic sink particle mass, again by a factor of ≈2.4. The magnetic field also increases the degree of clustering in our simulations, such that the maximum stellar densities in the μφ = 2 case are higher than the others by again a factor of ≈2. This clustering tends to encourage the formation of multiple systems, which are more common in the rad-MHD runs than the rad-hydro run. The companion frequency in our simulations is consistent with observations of multiplicity in Class I sources, particularly for the μφ = 2 case. Finally, we find evidence of primordial mass segregation in our simulations reminiscent of that observed in star clusters like the Orion Nebula Cluster.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3420-3438
Number of pages19
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume439
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2014
Externally publishedYes

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