Related papers: Mapping the core mass function to the initial mass…
Observations of magnetic field strengths imply that molecular cloud fragments are individually close to being in a magnetically critical state, even though both magnetic field and column density measurements range over two orders of…
We review computational approaches to understanding the origin of the Initial Mass Function (IMF) during the formation of star clusters. We examine the role of turbulence, gravity and accretion, equations of state, and magnetic fields in…
Among the most central open questions regarding the initial mass function (IMF) of stars is the impact of environment on the shape of the core mass function (CMF) and thus potentially on the IMF. The ALMA-IMF Large Program aims to…
We study the star formation efficiency (SFE) in simulations and observations of turbulent, magnetized, molecular clouds. We find that the probability density functions (PDFs) of the density and the column density in our simulations with…
We undertake a systematic analysis of the early (< 0.5 Myr) evolution of clustering and the stellar initial mass function in turbulent fragmentation simulations. These large scale simulations for the first time offer the opportunity for a…
Fifty years after Ed Salpeter's seminal paper, tremendous progress both on the observational and theoretical sides allow a fairly accurate determination of the Galactic IMF not only down to the hydrogen-burning limit but into the brown…
Observations and theories of the stellar initial mass function are reviewed. The universality and large total mass range of the power law portion of the IMF suggest a connection between stellar mass and cloud structure. The fractal patterns…
We present the results of a series of numerical simulations of compressible, self-gravitating hydrodynamic turbulence of cluster-forming clumps in molecular clouds. We examine the role that turbulence has in the formation of gravitationally…
In the present work we examined the hypothesis that, a core mass function (CMF), such as the one deduced for cores in the Orion molecular cloud (OMC), could possibly be the primogenitor of the stellar initial mass function (IMF). Using the…
Observations suggest that star formation in filamentary molecular clouds occurs in a two-step process, with the formation of filaments preceding that of prestellar cores and stars. Here, we apply the gravo-turbulent fragmentation theory of…
We examine various physical processes that may explain the shallow high-mass slope of the IMF as well as the low SFR in star-forming molecular clouds (MCs) in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ). We show that the strong tidal field and the…
The ambipolar-diffusion theory of star formation predicts the formation of fragments in molecular clouds with mass-to-flux ratios greater than that of the parent-cloud envelope. By contrast, scenarios of turbulence-induced fragmentation do…
Dense cores inherit turbulent motions from the interstellar medium in which they form. As a tool for comparison to both simulations and observations, it is valuable to construct theoretical core models that can relate their internal density…
Observational constraints on the theory of the IMF are reviewed. These observations include the new result that star formation is very rapid, usually going from start to finish in only 1 or 2 dynamical times on a wide range of scales. This…
The origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a fundamental issue in the theory of star formation. It is generally fit with a composite power law. Some clues on the progenitors can be found in dense starless cores that have a…
Abridged: We have undertaken a series of hydrodynamical simulations of multiple star formation in small turbulent molecular clouds. Our goal is to determine the sensitivity of the properties of the resulting stars and brown dwarfs to…
The theory for the formation of the first population of stars (Pop III) predicts a IMF composed predominantly of high-mass stars, in contrast to the present-day IMF, which tends to yield stars with masses less than 1 M_Solar. The leading…
Recently, we have shown that if the ISM is governed by super-sonic turbulent flows, the excursion-set formalism can be used to calculate the statistics of self-gravitating objects over a wide range of scales. On the largest self-gravitating…
We present self-similar solutions that describe the gravitational collapse of rotating, isothermal, magnetic molecular-cloud cores, relevant to the formation of rotationally supported protostellar disks. This work focuses on the evolution…
The initial mass function (IMF) of stars and the corresponding cloud mass function (CMF), traditionally considered universal, exhibit variations that are influenced by the local environment. Notably, these variations are apparent in the…