Related papers: On the Radiation Problem of High Mass Stars
Massive stars produce so much light that the radiation pressure they exert on the gas and dust around them is stronger than their gravitational attraction, a condition that has long been expected to prevent them from growing by accretion.…
We present a model for the formation of massive ($M > 10 M_\odot$) stars through accretion-induced collisions in the cores of embedded dense stellar clusters. This model circumvents the problem of accreting onto a star whose luminosity is…
We review our recent studies demonstrating that the radiation pressure problem in the formation of massive stars can be circumvented via an anisotropy of the thermal radiation field. Such an anisotropy naturally establishes with the…
We calculate numerically the collapse of slowly rotating, non-magnetic, massive molecular clumps, which conceivably could lead to the formation of massive stars. Because radiative acceleration on dust grains plays a critical role in the…
In this chapter I review theoretical models for the formation of very massive stars. After a brief overview of some relevant observations, I spend the bulk of the chapter describing two possible routes to the formation of very massive…
The physical mechanism that allows massive stars to form is a major unsolved problem in astrophysics. Stars with masses $\gtsim 20$ $\msun$ reach the main sequence while still embedded in their natal clouds, and the immense radiation output…
Massive stars likely form by accretion and the evolutionary track of an accreting forming star corresponds to what is called the birthline in the HR diagram. The shape of this birthline is quite sensitive to the evolution of the entropy in…
A model for massive stars is constructed by piecing together evolutionary algorithms for the protostellar structure, the environment, the inflow and the radiation feedback. We investigate specified accretion histories of constant,…
The most massive stars can form via standard disk accretion - despite of the radiation pressure generated - due to the fact that the massive accretion disk yields a strong anisotropy in the radiation field, releasing most of the radiation…
It is well established that Solar-mass stars gain mass via disk accretion, until the mass reservoir of the disk is exhausted and dispersed, or condenses into planetesimals. Accretion disks are intimately coupled with mass ejection via polar…
The hypothesis that massive stars form by accretion can be investigated by simple analytical calculations that describe the effect that the formation of a massive star has on its own accretion flow. Within a simple accretion model that…
We develop a model for the outer gravitationally unstable regions of accretion disks around massive black holes, for primeval or solar abundances. First we study star formation and evolution in a purely gaseous marginally unstable disk, and…
The origin of the population of very massive stars observed within $\sim 0.4$ pc of the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre is a mystery. Tidal forces from the black hole would likely inhibit {\it in situ} star formation whilst…
The collapse of massive molecular clumps can produce high mass stars, but the evolution is not simply a scaled-up version of low mass star formation. Outflows and radiative effects strongly hinder the formation of massive stars via…
The formation of massive stars is a long standing problem. Although a number of theories of massive star formation exist, ideas appear to converge to a disk-mediated accretion scenario. Here we present radiative hydrodynamic simulations of…
We briefly review the recent numerical works that have been performed to understand the formation of massive stars. After a brief description of the classical works, we review more specifically $i)$ the problem of building stars more…
Theory predicts and observations confirm that low-mass stars (like the Sun) in their early life grow by accreting gas from the surrounding material. But for stars ~ 10 times more massive than the Sun (~10 M_sun), the powerful stellar…
In this review, I present the case for how massive stars may form through stellar collisions. This mechanism requires very high stellar densities, up to 4 orders of magnitude higher than are observed in the cores of dense young clusters. In…
We propose that supermassive stars may form in quasar accretion disks, and we discuss possible observational consequences. The structure and stability of very massive stars are reviewed. Because of high accretion rates, quasar disks are…
Disk accretion may be the fundamental astrophysical process. Stars and planets form through the accretion of gas in a disk. Black holes and galaxies co-evolve through efficient disk accretion onto the central supermassive black hole.…