On a simple model for self-regulating star formation in the galactic disk

Sternentstehung in Galaxien ist ein Prozeß mit Rückkopplung zum interstellaren Medium (ISM) und möglicherweise ein Teil eines selbstregu-lierenden Zyklus. DOPITA (1985) hat ein Modell vorgeschlagen, in dem Sternentstehung in Spiral- und irregulären Galaxien über den Druck im ISM selbstregulierend wirkt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird gezeigt, daß die verfügbaren Daten für die radialen Verteilungen von Gas, Gesamtmasse und Lymankontinuumphotonenfluß in der Scheibe unserer Galaxis dieses einfache Modell nicht stützen. Verschiedene mögliche Ursachen werden diskutiert.     

On the angular momentum in star formation

We discuss the rotation of interstellar clouds which are in a stage immediately before star formation. Cloud collisions seem to be the principal cause of the observed rotation of interstellar clouds. The rotational motion of the clouds is strongly influenced by turbulence.Theories dealing with the resolution of the angular momentum problem in star formation are classified into five major groups. We develop the old idea that the angular momentum of an interstellar cloud passes during star formation into the angular momentum of double star systems and/or circumstellar clouds.It is suggested that a rotating gas cloud contracts into a ring-like structure which fragments into self-gravitating subcondensations. By collisions and gas accretion these subcondensations accrete into binary systems surrounded by circumstellar clouds. Using some rough approximations we find analytical expressions for the semi-major axis of the binary system and for the density of the circumstellar clouds as a function of the initial density and of the initial angular velocity of an interstellar cloud. The obtained values are well within the observational limits.     

On the formation of a neutron star in a close binary system

The effects on a close binary system of one component becoming a neutron star as a result of a supernova explosion are discussed in this paper. In the case of a Type I supernova, the system can remain bound in many cases of interest. For a Type II supernova, the system will probably be disrupted although in some cases a remnant of the companion to the supernova may remain in a bound orbit.Consequently, neutron stars formed in Type I supernova explosions may exist in close binary systems. Such systems may be strong X-ray emitters due to mass flow as suggested by Shklovsky. Photons with energies in the 1–50 MeV region should also be emitted.     

Simulating a stochastic background of gravitational waves from neutron star formation at cosmological distances

We develop a temporal simulation of the potentially detectable gravitational wave background from neutron star formation at cosmological distances. By using a recent model for the evolving star formation rate, we investigate the statistical distribution of gravitational wave amplitudes due to supernovae that result in neutron star formation in the Einstein–de Sitter cosmology. We find that the gravitational wave amplitude distribution in our frame is highly skewed, with skewness related to the distribution of sources, and that the potentially detectable gravitational wave strain is dominated by sources at a redshift of     . Time traces of the simulation, using selected waveforms, are presented graphically and are also made available as web-based audio files. The method developed can readily be extended to different cosmologies, as well as to incorporate other waveforms and source types. This type of simulation will be useful in testing and optimizing detection strategies for gravitational wave backgrounds due to various types of individually undetectable astrophysical sources.     

Observational approach to star formation

The observational approach to the early stages of stellar evolution has been applied to some problems relating to the formation and dissipation of stellar associations, the origin of OB field stars, and low-mass star formation in OB associations. The OB field stars ejected from parent associations are older on the average than the OB stars in the associations. The average duration of active OB-star formation in associations is evaluated. It is suggested that, under the conditions in OB associations, low-mass stars may be formed from dense protostellar objects.Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 393–406, July–September, 1996.     

On the role of magnetic fields in star formation

Magnetic fields are observed in star forming regions. However simulations of the late stages of star formation that do not include magnetic fields provide a good fit to the properties of young stars including the initial mass function (IMF) and the multiplicity. We argue here that the simulations that do include magnetic fields are unable to capture the correct physics, in particular the high value of the magnetic Prandtl number, and the low value of the magnetic diffusivity. The artificially high (numerical and uncontrolled) magnetic diffusivity leads to a large magnetic flux pervading the star forming region. We argue further that in reality the dynamics of high magnetic Prandtl number turbulence may lead to local regions of magnetic energy dissipation through reconnection, meaning that the regions of molecular clouds which are forming stars might be essentially free of magnetic fields. Thus the simulations that ignore magnetic fields on the scales on which the properties of stellar masses, stellar multiplicities and planet-forming discs are determined, may be closer to reality than those which include magnetic fields, but can only do so in an unrealistic parameter regime.     

The stochastic background of gravitational waves from neutron star formation at cosmological distances

We investigate the stochastic gravitational wave background that results from neutron star birth throughout the Universe. The neutron star birth rate, as a function of redshift, is calculated using an observation-based model for the evolving star formation rate, together with an estimate of the rate of core-collapse supernovae in the nearby Universe and an estimate of the neutron star/black hole branching ratio. Using three sample waveforms, based on numerical models of stellar core collapse by Zwerger & Müller, the spectral flux density, spectral strain, spectral energy density and duty cycle of the background have been computed. Our results show, contrary to recent claims, that the spectrum of the stochastic background clearly reflects the different physics in the core-collapse models. For a star formation model that is corrected for dust extinction, the neutron star formation rate throughout the Universe is high enough to result in a nearly continuous background of gravitational waves, with spectral features that can be related to emission mechanisms.     

A simple model for the relationship between star formation and surface density

We investigate the relationship between the star formation rate per unit area and the surface density of the interstellar medium (ISM; the local Kennicutt–Schmitt law) using a simplified model of the ISM and a simple estimate of the star formation rate based on the mass of gas in bound clumps, the local dynamical time-scales of the clumps and an efficiency parameter of around  ε≈ 5  per cent. Despite the simplicity of the approach, we are able to reproduce the observed linear relation between star formation rate and surface density of dense (molecular) gas. We use a simple model for the dependence of H₂ fraction on total surface density to argue why neither total surface density nor the H  i surface density is a good local indicator of star formation rate. We also investigate the dependence of the star formation rate on the depth of the spiral potential. Our model indicates that the mean star formation rate does not depend significantly on the strength of the spiral potential, but that a stronger spiral potential, for a given mean surface density, does result in more of the star formation occurring close to the spiral arms. This agrees with the observation that grand design galaxies do not appear to show a larger degree of star formation compared to their flocculent counterparts.     

On the opaque core appearing in the early phase of star formation

The spherical collapse of a protostar with one solar mass is calculated from a gravitationally unstable initial stage, by solving the equations of hydrodynamics and pherical radiative transfer. The temperature dependence of the dust opacity is taken into account in contrast to the earlier calculations with temperature independent opacities. It is shown that the opaque core is equivalent to the adiabatic core in the purely adiabatic case. The blanketing effect of dust grains strengthens the shock of the opaque core and may result in raising the central entropy of protostars.Paper presented at the Conference on Protostars and Planets, held at the Planetary Science Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, between January 3 and 7, 1978.     

Statified model of a neutron star

Evolutionary calculations based on realistic equations of state indicate the stratified nature of the distribution of hadron matter in the interiors of neutron stars. In the proposed model, the stratified structure of a neutron star is treated as a rigid inert core surrounded by a dynamical layer. The physical basis for the model is the concept of the stellar matter of the peripheral envelope as an elastic Fermi continuum, the motions of which are described by the equations of nuclear elastodynamics, proposed in the macroscopic theory of collective processes in laboratory nuclear physics. It is shown that the vibrational dynamics of a neutron star is characterized by two branches of gravitational—elastic, spheroidal (s-mode) and torsional (t-mode) nonradial eigenvibrations. Estimates obtained for the periods of global, gravitational nonradial modes suggest that variations in the intensity of micropulses observed in the millisecond range of the spectra of C-pulsars may be ascribed to these vibrations. The proposed two-component model of a neutron star enables one to consider a glitch in a pulsar’s radio emission as a starquake due to the passage of the companion through periastron of the binary system. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 235–252, April–June, 1999     

Stellar contents and star formation in the young star cluster Be 59

We present   UBV  I _c   CCD photometry of the young open cluster Be 59 with the aim to study the star formation scenario in the cluster. The radial extent of the cluster is found to be ∼10 arcmin (2.9 pc). The interstellar extinction in the cluster region varies between   E ( B − V ) ≃ 1.4  to 1.8 mag. The ratio of total-to-selective extinction in the cluster region is estimated as  3.7 ± 0.3  . The distance of the cluster is found to be  1.00 ± 0.05 kpc  . Using near-infrared (NIR) colours and slitless spectroscopy, we have identified young stellar objects (YSOs) in the open cluster Be 59 region. The ages of these YSOs range between <1 and ∼2 Myr, whereas the mean age of the massive stars in the cluster region is found to be ∼2 Myr. There is evidence for second-generation star formation outside the boundary of the cluster, which may be triggered by massive stars in the cluster. The slope of the initial mass function, Γ, in the mass range  2.5 < M /M_⊙≤ 28  is found to be  −1.01 ± 0.11  which is shallower than the Salpeter value (−1.35), whereas in the mass range  1.5 < M /M_⊙≤ 2.5  the slope is almost flat. The slope of the K -band luminosity function is estimated as  0.27 ± 0.02  , which is smaller than the average value (∼0.4) reported for young embedded clusters. Approximately 32 per cent of Hα emission stars of Be 59 exhibit NIR excess indicating that inner discs of the T Tauri star (TTS) population have not dissipated. The Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) and IRAS-HIRES images around the cluster region are also used to study the emission from unidentified infrared bands and to estimate the spatial distribution of optical depth of warm and cold interstellar dust.     

Galactic evolution with bimodal star formation. I. A simple model

Models for the history of the star formation rate are presented which essentially follow three assumptions: (i) high-mass star formation is mainly initiated by collisions of molecular clouds while low-mass stars are formed in a spontaneous mode; (ii) the bimodal IMF is responsible for the structure in the present-day mass function of nearby stars; (iii) the global molecular gas density can be described in terms of the total gas density and the metal abundance. Some properties of these models are confronted with observations in the Solar neighborhood (total density, gas fraction, OB star formation rate, star formation efficiency, present-day mass function, age-metallicity relation, white dwarf luminosity function). Special attention is given to the question of the nature of dark matter in the galactic disk within the frame of these models. Es werden Modelle für die zeitliche Entwicklung der Sternentstehungsrate vorgestellt, die im wesentlichen von drei Annahmen ausgehen: (i) Die Entstehung massereicher Sterne wird durch Kollisionen von Molekülwolken initiiert, während masseärmere Sterne spontan entstehen; (ii) Die bimodale IMF ist verantwortlich für die Strukturin der gegenwärtigen Massenverteilung der nahen Sterne; (iii) Die globale Dichte des molekularen Gases kann durch die gesamte Gasdichte und die Häufigkeit schwerer Elemente ausgedrückt werden. Einige Eigenschaften der Modelle werden mit Beobachtungsdaten der Sonnenumgebung konfrontiert (Gesamtdichte, Gasanteil, Entstehungsrate der OB Sterne, Sternstehungseffektivität, gegenwärtige Massenverteilung der Sterne, Alter-Metallgehalt Relation, Leuchtkraftfunktion weißer Zwerge). Besondere Aufmerksamkeit wird der Frage nach der Natur der dunklen Materie in der galaktischen Scheibe im Rahmen dieser Modelle gewidmet.