Date:
Tue, 22/12/200912:30-13:30
Location:
Kaplun Bldg, seminar room, 2nd floor
The Formation of Massive Stars
The similarity between the mass and spatial distributions of pre-stellar gas cores in star-forming clouds and young stars in clusters provides strong circumstantial evidence that these gas cores are the direct progenitors of individual stars. I describe a physical model for the evolution of massive
cores into stars, starting with the initial phases of collapse and fragmentation, through disk formation and evolution, and finally to the point where stellar feedback begins to dominate. This model shows that a direct mapping from cores to stars is the natural physical outcome of massive core evolution, and thereby allows us to explain many of the properties of young star clusters as direct imprints of their gas-phase progenitors.
The similarity between the mass and spatial distributions of pre-stellar gas cores in star-forming clouds and young stars in clusters provides strong circumstantial evidence that these gas cores are the direct progenitors of individual stars. I describe a physical model for the evolution of massive
cores into stars, starting with the initial phases of collapse and fragmentation, through disk formation and evolution, and finally to the point where stellar feedback begins to dominate. This model shows that a direct mapping from cores to stars is the natural physical outcome of massive core evolution, and thereby allows us to explain many of the properties of young star clusters as direct imprints of their gas-phase progenitors.