Related papers: Theory of Protostellar Accretion
Current magnetic-accretion models for classical T-Tauri stars rely on a strong, dipolar magnetic field of stellar origin to funnel the disk material onto the star, and assume a steady-state. In this paper, I critically examine the physical…
Transition disc systems are young stars that appear to be on the verge of dispersing their protoplanetary discs. We explore the nature of these systems by comparing the stellar accretion rates and disc masses of transition discs and normal…
We present simulations of collapsing 100 M_\sun mass cores in the context of massive star formation. The effect of variable initial rotational and magnetic energies on the formation of massive stars is studied in detail. We focus on…
Requirements for magnetic coupling and accretion in the active layer of a protostellar disk are re-examined, and some implications for thermal emission from the layer are discussed. The ionization and electrical conductivity are calculated…
Complex turbulent motions are ubiquitously observed in many astrophysical systems. Their origin, however, is still poorly understood. When cosmic structures form, they grow in mass via accretion from the surrounding environment. We propose…
Traditionally models of accretion of gas on to T Tauri stars have assumed a dipole stellar magnetosphere, partly for simplicity, but also due to the lack of information about their true magnetic field topologies. Before and since the first…
Magnetic flux redistribution lies at the heart of the problem of star formation in dense cores of molecular clouds that are magnetized to a realistic level. If all of the magnetic flux of a typical core were to be dragged into the central…
The problem of the late accretion phase of the evolution of an axisymmetric, isothermal magnetic disk surrounding a forming star has been formulated in a companion paper. The "central sink approximation" is used to circumvent the problem of…
Recent advances in our understanding of massive star formation have made clear the important role of protostellar disks in mediating accretion. Here we describe a simple, semi-analytic model for young, deeply embedded, massive accretion…
This review introduces physical processes in protoplanetary disks relevant to accretion and the initial stages of planet formation. After a brief overview of the observational context, I introduce the elementary theory of disk structure and…
Recent observations show a strong correlation between stellar mass and accretion rate in young stellar and sub-stellar objects, with the scaling $\dot{M}_{acc} \propto M_*^2$ holding over more than four orders of magnitude in accretion…
We present a detailed computational study of the assembly of protostellar disks and massive stars in molecular clouds with supersonic turbulence. We follow the evolution of large scale filamentary structures in a cluster-forming clump down…
A fundamental issue in star formation is understanding the precise mechanisms leading to the formation of prestellar cores, and their subsequent gravitationally unstable evolution. To address this question, we carefully construct a suite of…
We propose a new analytic model for the initial conditions of protostellar collapse in relatively isolated regions of star formation. The model is non-magnetic, and is based on a Plummer-like radial density profile as its initial condition.…
Recent observations suggest that mass ejection and mass accretion both decline significantly with time during early protostellar evolution (Bontemps et al. 1996). In the present paper, we propose that this rapid decay of accretion/ejection…
Understanding the collapse of dense molecular cloud cores to stellar densities and the subsequent evolution of the protostar is of importance to model the feedback effects such an object has on its surrounding environment, as well as…
The structure of accretion discs around magnetic T Tauri stars is numerically calculated using a particle hydrodynamical code, in which magnetic interaction is included in the framework of King's diamagnetic blob accretion model. Setting up…
We present numerical simulations of the evolution of low-mass, isothermal, molecular cores which are subjected to an increase in external pressure $P\xt$. If $P\xt$ increases very slowly, the core approaches instability quite…
Planet-forming disks are fundamental objects thought to be inherited from large scale rotation, through the conservation of angular momentum during the collapse of a prestellar dense core. We investigate the possibility for a protostellar…
In the current paradigm of star formation magnetic fields play a very central role. Indeed, they probably help or even channel the initial gravitational collapse of the parent molecular cloud. But their most spectacular effect is certainly…