Environmental effects on the dynamical evolution of star clusters in turbulent molecular clouds

Suin, P.; Shore, Steven N.; Pavlík, Václav

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243579

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Whether the mass function varies as a function of the local density is a subject still under debate (Raboud & Mermilliod 1998;Stolte et al 2002;Bonnell 2008). Moreover, in young massive clusters, the mass segregation process takes place in very short timescales, possibly leading to an effect of this kind (Portegies Allison et al 2010;Suin et al 2022).…”

Section: Biases Combinedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stellar feedback in the star formation–gas density relation: Comparison between simulations and observations

Suin,

Zavagno,

Colman

et al. 2024

A&A

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The impact of stellar feedback on the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) law, which relates the star formation rate (SFR) to the surface gas density, is a topic of ongoing debate. The interpretation of high-resolution observations of individual clouds is challenging due to the various processes at play simultaneously and inherent biases. Therefore, a numerical investigation is necessary to understand the role of stellar feedback and identify observable signatures. In this study we investigate the impact of stellar feedback on the KS law, aiming to identify distinct signatures that can be observed and analysed. By employing magnetohydrodynamic simulations of an isolated cloud, we specifically isolate the effects of high-mass star radiation feedback and protostellar jets. High-resolution numerical simulations are a valuable tool for isolating the impact of stellar feedback on the star formation process, while also allowing us to assess how observational biases may affect the derived relation. We used high-resolution (<0.01 pc) magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulations of a 10$^4\ cloud and followed its evolution under different feedback prescriptions. The set of simulations contained four types of feedback: one with only protostellar jets, one with ionising radiation from massive stars (>8 odot $), one with the combination of the two, and one without any stellar feedback. In order to compare these simulations with the existing observational results, we analysed their evolution by adopting the same techniques applied in the observational studies. Then, we simulated how the same analyses would change if the data were affected by typical observational biases: counting young stellar objects (YSO) to estimate the SFR, the limited resolution for the column density maps, and a sensitivity threshold for detecting faint embedded YSOs. Our analysis reveals that the presence of stellar feedback strongly influences the shape of the KS relation and the star formation efficiency per free-fall time (eff ). The impact of feedback on the relation is primarily governed by its influence on the cloud's structure. Additionally, the evolution of eff throughout the star formation event suggests that variations in this quantity can mask the impact of feedback in observational studies that do not account for the evolutionary stage of the clouds. Although the eff measured in our clouds is higher than what is usually observed in real clouds, upon applying prescriptions to mimic observational biases we recover a good agreement with the expected values. From that, we can infer that observations tend to underestimate the total SFR. Moreover, this likely indicates that the physics included in our simulations is sufficient to reproduce the basic mechanisms that contribute to setting eff . We demonstrate the interest of employing numerical simulations to address the impact of early feedback on star formation laws and to correctly interpret observational data. This study will be extended to other types of molecular clouds and ionising stars, sampling different feedback strengths, to fully characterise the impact of regions on star formation.

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Section: Biases Combinedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stellar feedback in the star formation–gas density relation: Comparison between simulations and observations

Suin,

Zavagno,

Colman

et al. 2024

A&A

Self Cite

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“…In other models, high-density regions are rapidly contracting, converting a large fraction (as high as 40%; Bonnell et al 2011) of their mass into stars in only a few free-fall times. However, the low-density parts of the cloud, which contain up to 90% of the cloud mass (Battisti & Heyer 2014), disperse over the scales of free fall time as a result of turbulence generated by galactic shear or by energy input from supernovae explosions (Dobbs et al 2011;Walch & Naab 2015), or due to radiative and mechanical stellar feedback from high-mass stars formed early on during the evolution of the cloud (Murray 2011;Colín et al 2013;Pabst et al 2020;Chevance et al 2022;Suin et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The magnetic field in the Flame nebula

Bešlić,

Coudé,

Lis

et al. 2024

A&A

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Star formation drives the evolution of galaxies and the cycling of matter between different phases of the interstellar medium and stars. The support of interstellar clouds against gravitational collapse by magnetic fields has been proposed as a possible explanation for the low observed star formation efficiency in galaxies and the Milky Way. The Planck satellite provided the first all-sky map of the magnetic field geometry in the diffuse interstellar medium on angular scales of 5-15$'$. However, higher spatial resolution observations are required to understand the transition from diffuse, subcritical gas to dense, gravitationally unstable filaments. NGC 2024, also known as the Flame nebula, is located in the nearby Orion B molecular cloud. It contains a young, expanding region and a dense supercritical filament. This filament harbors embedded protostellar objects and is likely not supported by the magnetic field against gravitational collapse. Therefore, NGC 2024 provides an excellent opportunity to study the role of magnetic fields in the formation, evolution, and collapse of dense filaments, the dynamics of young regions, and the effects of mechanical and radiative feedback from massive stars on the surrounding molecular gas. We combined new 154 and 216 m dust polarization measurements carried out using the HAWC+ instrument aboard SOFIA with molecular line observations of and from the IRAM 30-meter telescope to determine the magnetic field geometry, and to estimate the plane of the sky magnetic field strength across the NGC 2024 region and the surrounding molecular cloud. The HAWC+ observations show an ordered magnetic field geometry in NGC 2024 that follows the morphology of the expanding region and the direction of the main dense filament. The derived plane of the sky magnetic field strength is moderate, ranging from 30 to 80 G. The strongest magnetic field is found at the eastern edge of the region, characterized by the highest gas densities and molecular line widths. In contrast, the weakest field is found toward the main, dense filament in NGC 2024. We find that the magnetic field has a non-negligible influence on the gas stability at the edges of the expanding shell (gas impacted by stellar feedback) and the filament (site of current star formation).

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Environmental effects on the dynamical evolution of star clusters in turbulent molecular clouds

Cited by 2 publications

References 71 publications

Stellar feedback in the star formation–gas density relation: Comparison between simulations and observations

Stellar feedback in the star formation–gas density relation: Comparison between simulations and observations

The magnetic field in the Flame nebula

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