Related papers: Competitive Accretion and the IMF
The current knowledge on the stellar IMF is documented. It appears to become top-heavy when the star-formation rate density surpasses about 0.1Msun/(yr pc^3) on a pc scale and it may become increasingly bottom-heavy with increasing…
Observations have indicated that the prestellar core mass function (CMF) is similar to the stellar initial mass function (IMF), except for an offset towards larger masses. This has led to the idea that there is a one-to-one relation between…
As star-forming clouds collapse, the gas within them fragments to ever-smaller masses. Naively one might expect this process to continue down to the smallest mass that is able to radiate away its binding energy on a dynamical timescale, the…
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 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…
Star cluster formation is unlikely to be a sudden event: instead, matter will flow to a cluster's formation site over an extended period, even as stars form and inject energy to the region. A cluster's gaseous precursor must persist under…
The stellar initial mass functions (IMFs) for the Galactic bulge, the Milky Way, other galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the integrated stars in the Universe are composites from countless individual IMFs in star clusters and associations…
Young stellar systems orbiting in the potential of their birth cluster can accrete from the dense molecular interstellar medium during the period between the star's birth and the dispersal of the cluster's gas. Over this time, which may…
(abridged) We consider the effect of stellar remnants on the interstellar medium of a massive star cluster following the initial burst of star formation. We argue that accretion onto stellar-mass black holes (BHs) is an effective mechanism…
The formation mechanism of massive stars remains one of the main open problems in astrophysics, in particular the relationship between the mass of the most massive stars, and that of the cores in which they form. Numerical simulations of…
Observations of normal galactic star-forming regions suggest there is widespread near-uniformity in the initial stellar mass function (IMF) in spite of diverse physical conditions. Fluctuations may come largely from statistical effects and…
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…
Accretion studies have been focused on the flow around bodies with point mass gravitational potentials, but few general results are available for non-point mass distributions. Here, we study the accretion flow onto non-divergent, core…
In regions of star formation, protostars and newborn stars accrete mass from their natal clouds. These clouds are threaded by magnetic fields with a strength characterized by the plasma beta---the ratio of thermal and magnetic pressures.…
I review the status of massive star formation theories: accretion from collapsing, massive, turbulent cores; competitive accretion; and stellar collisions. I conclude the observational and theoretical evidence favors the first of these…
During a giant eruption of a very massive star in the binary system, the companion star can accrete a large amount of mass that can change its properties and potentially its subsequent evolution. The effect depends on the companion mass,…
It is believed that the majority of stars form in clusters. Therefore it is likely that the gas physical conditions that prevail in forming clusters, largely determine the properties of stars that form and in particular the initial mass…
We study accretion environments of active galactic nuclei when a super-massive black hole wanders in a circum-nuclear region and passes through an interstellar medium there. It is expected that a Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton type accretion of the…
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…
A brief review is given of the basic observed features of the stellar IMF, and also of some of the theoretical ideas and simulations that may help to explain these features. The characteristic stellar mass of order one solar mass may derive…