Related papers: Consistency of Ambipolar Diffusion Models with Inf…
We extend our earlier work on ambipolar diffusion induced formation of protostellar cores in isothermal sheet-like magnetic interstellar clouds, by studying nonaxisymmetric collapse for the physically interesting regime of magnetically…
Both analytic and numerical radiative transfer models applied to high spectral resolution CS and N2H+ data give insight into the evolutionary state of L1551 MC. This recently discovered pre-protostellar core in L1551 appears to be in the…
We develop analytic approximations to the density evolution of prestellar cores, based on the results of hydrodynamical simulations. We use these approximations as input for a time-dependent gas-grain chemical code to investigate the…
The dynamical role of the magnetic field in the star formation process is tightly linked to the coupling between matter and the field. This coupling is due to the interaction between ions and neutrals in the partially ionized interstellar…
We investigate differences in the molecular abundances between magnetically super- and sub-critical prestellar cores, performing three-dimensional non-ideal magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations with varying densities and magnetic field…
We develop a detailed chemical model for the starless cores of strongly magnetized molecular clouds, with the ambipolar diffusion-driven dynamic evolution of the clouds coupled to the chemistry through ion abundances. We concentrate on two…
Prestellar cores, the birthplace of Sun-like stars, form from the fragmentation of the filamentary structure that composes molecular clouds, from which they must inherit at least partially the kinematics. Furthermore, when they are on the…
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.…
Ambipolar diffusion likely plays a pivotal role in the formation and evolution of dense cores in weakly-ionized molecular clouds. Linear analyses show that the evolutionary times and fragmentation scales are significantly greater than the…
Context: The study of dust emission at millimeter wavelengths is important to shed light on the dust properties and physical structure of pre-stellar cores, the initial conditions in the process of star and planet formation. Aims: Using two…
We investigate the roles of magnetic fields and ambipolar diffusion during prestellar core formation in turbulent giant molecular clouds (GMCs), using three-dimensional numerical simulations. Our simulations focus on the shocked layer…
We aim to quantify the effect of chemistry on the infall velocity in the prestellar core L1544. Previous observational studies have found evidence for double-peaked line profiles for the rotational transitions of several molecules, which…
This paper re-examines the problem of ambipolar diffusion as a mechanism for the production and runaway evolution of centrally condensed molecular cloud cores, a process that has been termed the gravomagneto catastrophe. Our calculation…
We present an idealized, spherical model of the evolution of a magnetized molecular cloud due to ambipolar diffusion. This model allows us to follow the quasi-static evolution of the cloud's core prior to collapse and the subsequent…
Improving our understanding of the initial conditions and earliest stages of star formation is crucial to gain insight into the origin of stellar masses, multiple systems, and protoplanetary disks. We review the properties of low-mass dense…
In this paper, we provide a more accurate description of the evolution of the magnetic flux redistribution during prestellar core collapse by including resistive terms in the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations. We focus more particularly…
We demonstrate that the formation of collapsing cores in subcritical clouds is accelerated by nonlinear flows, by performing three-dimensional non-ideal MHD simulations. An initial random supersonic (and trans-Alfvenic) turbulent-like flow…
We investigate the chemical evolution of a collapsing core that starts from a hydrostatic core and finally form a low-mass protostar. New multiphase gas-grain models that include bulk diffusion and photon penetration are simulated by the…
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…
We analyze an ensemble of simulated prestellar cores to facilitate interpretation of structure, kinematics, and lifetime of observed cores. While our theory predicts a "characteristic" density for star formation, it also predicts that the…