The gaseous proto-cluster as a product of gravo-turbulent interaction: modified local environment for stellar cluster formation?
Abstract
Stars are often observed to form in clusters, while the formation of the gaseous proto-cluster precedes that of the stellar cluster. We discuss the assembly of gas via gravo-turbulent reprocessing inside collapsing molecular clouds, and demonstrate that virial equilibrium is established for the gaseous proto-cluster, of which the higher density is favorable for clustered star formation, and that some physical characteristics of the stellar cluster are inherited from the gaseous proto-cluster. We introduce an analytical two-dimensional virial model to account for the quasi-stationary accreting gaseous proto-cluster which has non-negligible rotation. Results are compared to observations and simulations and the fact that gaseous proto-clusters lie on an equilibrium sequence may imply that star formation could be to some extent disentangled from larger scale physics, offering an encouraging explanation for the universality of IMF.
- Publication:
-
SF2A-2016: Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016sf2a.conf..189L
- Keywords:
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- proto-cluster;
- star formation;
- cluster;
- gravity;
- IMF