arXiv subjects

Cathie Clarke

Publications and source records attributed to Cathie Clarke.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

The physics and modes of star cluster formation: simulations

We review progress in numerical simulations of star cluster formation. These simulations involve the bottom-up assembly of clusters through hierarchical mergers, which produces a fractal stellar distribution at young (~0.5 Myr) ages. The resulting clusters are predicted to be mildly aspherical and highly mass-segregated, except in the immediate aftermath of mergers. The upper initial mass function within individual clusters is generally somewhat flatter than for the aggregate population. Recent work has begun to clarify the factors that control the mean stellar mass in a star-forming cloud and also the efficiency of star formation. The former is sensitive to the thermal properties of the gas while the latter depends both on the magnetic field and the initial degree of gravitational boundedness of the natal cloud. Unmagnetized clouds that are initially bound undergo rapid collapse, which is difficult to reverse by ionization feedback or stellar winds.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2009

Metallicity, planet formation, and disc lifetimes

The formation of planets within a disc must operate within the time frame of disc dispersal, it is thus crucial to establish what is the dominant process that disperses the gaseous component of discs around young stars. Planet formation itself as well as photoevaporation by energetic radiation from the central young stellar object have been proposed as plausible dispersal mechanisms. [abridged]. In this paper we use the different metallicity dependance of X-ray photoevaporation and planet formation to discriminate between these two processes. We study the effects of metallicity, Z, on the dispersal timescale, t_phot, in the context of a photoevaporation model, by means of detailed thermal calculations of a disc in hydrostatic equilibrium irradiated by EUV and X-ray radiation from the central source. Our models show t_phot \propto Z^0.52 for a pure photoevaporation model. By means of analytical estimates we derive instead a much stronger negative power dependance on metallicity of the disc lifetime for a dispersal model based on planet formation. A census of disc fractions in lower metallicity regions should therefore be able to distinguish between the two models. A recent study by Yasui et al. in low metallicity clusters of the extreme outer Galaxy ([O/H] ~- 0.7dex and dust to gas ratio of ~0.001) provides preliminary observational evidence for shorter disc lifetimes at lower metallicities, in agreement with the predictions of a pure photoevaporation model. [abridged] We finally develop an analytical framework to study the effects of metallicity dependent photoevaporation on the formation of gas giants in the core accretion scenario. We show that accounting for this effect strengthens the conclusion that planet formation is favoured at higher metallicity. [abridged]

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2009

The effects of opacity on gravitational stability in protoplanetary discs

In this paper we consider the effects of opacity regimes on the stability of self-gravitating protoplanetary discs to fragmentation into bound objects. Using a self-consistent 1-D viscous disc model, we show that the ratio of local cooling to dynamical timescales Omega*tcool has a strong dependence on the local temperature. We investigate the effects of temperature-dependent cooling functions on the disc's gravitational stability through controlled numerical experiments using an SPH code. We find that such cooling functions raise the susceptibility of discs to fragmentation through the influence of temperature perturbations - the average value of Omega*tcool has to increase to prevent local variability leading to collapse. We find the effects of temperature dependence to be most significant in the "opacity gap" associated with dust sublimation, where the average value of Omega*tcool at fragmentation is increased by over an order of magnitude. We then use this result to predict where protoplanetary discs will fragment into bound objects, in terms of radius and accretion rate. We find that without temperature dependence, for radii < ~10AU a very large accretion rate ~10^-3 Msun/yr is required for fragmentation, but that this is reduced to 10^-4 Msun/yr with temperature-dependent cooling. We also find that the stability of discs with accretion rates < ~10^-7 Msun/yr at radii > ~50AU is enhanced by a lower background temperature if the disc becomes optically thin.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2008

Characterising the Gravitational Instability in Cooling Accretion Discs

We perform numerical analyses of the structure induced by gravitational instabilities in cooling gaseous accretion discs. For low enough cooling rates a quasi-steady configuration is reached, with the instability saturating at a finite amplitude in a marginally stable disc. We find that the saturation amplitude scales with the inverse square root of the cooling parameter beta = t_cool / t_dyn, which indicates that the heating rate induced by the instability is proportional to the energy density of the induced density waves. We find that at saturation the energy dissipated per dynamical time by weak shocks due is of the order of 20 per cent of the wave energy. From Fourier analysis of the disc structure we find that while the azimuthal wavenumber is roughly constant with radius, the mean radial wavenumber increases with radius, with the dominant mode corresponding to the locally most unstable wavelength. We demonstrate that the density waves excited in relatively low mass discs are always close to co-rotation, deviating from it by approximately 10 per cent. This can be understood in terms of the flow Doppler-shifted phase Mach number -- the pattern speed self-adjusts so that the flow into spiral arms is always sonic. This has profound effects on the degree to which transport through self-gravity can be modelled as a viscous process. Our results thus provide (a) a detailed description of how the self-regulation mechanism is established for low cooling rates, (b) a clarification of the conditions required for describing the transport induced by self-gravity through an effective viscosity, (c) an estimate of the maximum amplitude of the density perturbation before fragmentation occurs, and (d) a simple recipe to estimate the density perturbation in different thermal regimes.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

A new algorithm for modelling photoionising radiation in smoothed particle hydrodynamics

We present a new fast algorithm which allows the simulation of ionising radiation emitted from point sources to be included in high-resolution three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of star cluster formation. We employ a Strömgren volume technique in which we use the densities of particles near the line-of-sight between the source and a given target particle to locate the ionisation front in the direction of the target. Along with one--dimensional tests, we present fully three--dimensional comparisons of our code with the three--dimensional Monte-Carlo radiative transfer code, MOCASSIN, and show that we achieve good agreement, even in the case of highly complex density fields.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

The Monitor project: Rotation of low-mass stars in the open cluster NGC 2516

We report on the results of an i-band time-series photometric survey of NGC 2516 using the CTIO 4m Blanco telescope and 8k Mosaic-II detector, achieving better than 1% photometric precision per data point over 15<~i<~19. Candidate cluster members were selected from a V vs V-I colour magnitude diagram over 16 0.25 days, and the slowest rotators for M<~0.5 M_solar bounded by a line of P \propto M^3, with those for M>~0.5 M_solar following a flatter relation closer to P ~ constant. Models of the rotational evolution were investigated, finding that the evolution of the fastest rotators was well-reproduced by a conventional solid body model with a mass-dependent saturation velocity, whereas core-envelope decoupling was needed to reproduce the evolution of the slowest rotators. None of our models were able to simultaneously reproduce the behaviour of both populations.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

The Monitor project: Rotation of low-mass stars in the open cluster M34

We report on the results of a V and i-band time-series photometric survey of M34 (NGC 1039) using the Wide Field Camera (WFC) on the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT), achieving better than 1% precision per data point for 13 <~ i <~ 17. Candidate cluster members were selected from a V vs V-I colour-magnitude diagram over 14 < V < 24 (0.12 <~ M/Msun <~ 1.0), finding 714 candidates, of which we expect ~ 400 to be real cluster members (taking into account contamination from the field). The mass function was computed, and found to be consistent with a log-normal distribution in dN/dlogM. Searching for periodic variable objects in the candidate members gave 105 detections over the mass range 0.25 < M/Msun < 1.0. The distribution of rotation periods for 0.4 < M/Msun < 1.0 was found to peak at ~ 7 days, with a tail of fast rotators down to periods of ~ 0.8 days. For 0.25 < M/Msun < 0.4 we found a peak at short periods, with a lack of slow rotators (eg. P >~ 5 days, consistent with the work of other authors (eg. Scholz & Eisloffel 2004) at very low masses. Our results are interpreted in the context of previous work, finding that we reproduce the same general features in the rotational period distributions. A number of rapid rotators were found with velocities ~ a factor of two lower than in the Pleiades, consistent with models of angular momentum evolution assuming solid body rotation without needing to invoke core-envelope decoupling.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

Numerical Results on Low Mass Star and Brown Dwarf Multiplicity

We have undertaken a series of hydrodynamic + N-body simulations in order to explore the properties of young stars. Our results suggest that the IMF may be sensitive to environment in its substellar region, with more brown dwarfs being formed where clusters are denser or more compact. We find that multiple stars are a natural outcome of collapsing turbulent flows, with a high incidence of N > 2 multiples. We find a positive correlation of multiplicity with primary mass but a companion frequency that decreases with age. Binary brown dwarfs are rarely formed, in conflict with observations. Brown dwarfs as companions are predominantly found orbiting binaries or triples at large separations.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

The Effect of Radiative Feedback on Bondi--Hoyle Flow around a Massive Star

We apply an algorithm for radiative feedback on a dusty flow (detailed in Edgar and Clarke (2003)) to the problem of Bondi--Hoyle accretion. This calculation is potentially relevant to the formation of massive stars in ultradense cores of stellar clusters. We find that radiative feedback is \emph{more effective} than in the case of previous calculations in spherical symmetry. The Bondi-Hoyle geometry implies that material is flowing nearly tangentially when it experiences the sharp radiative impulse at the dust destruction radius, and consequently it is readily perturbed into outflowing orbits. We find that it is difficult for stellar masses to grow beyond around 10 M_sol (for standard interstellar dust abundances). We discuss the possible implications of this result for the formation mechanism of OB stars in cluster cores. We end by proposing a series of conditions which must be fulfilled if Bondi--Hoyle accretion is to continue.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Hydrodynamical simulations of a cloud of interacting gas fragments

We present a full hydrodynamical investigation of a system of self-contained, interacting gas `cloudlets'. Calculations are performed using SPH, and cloudlets are allowed to collide, dissipate kinetic energy, merge and undergo local gravitational collapse. The numerical feasibility of such a technique is explored, and the resolution requirements examined. We examine the effect of the collision time and the velocity field on the timescale for evolution of the system, and show that almost all star formation will be confined to dense regions much smaller than the entire cloud. We also investigate the possibility, discussed by various authors, that such a system could lead to a power-law IMF by a process of repeated cloudlet coagulation, finding that in fact the inter-cloudlet collisions occur at too high a Mach number for merging to play an important part.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Brown Dwarfs as Ejected Stellar Embryos: Observational Perspectives

We discuss a scenario in which brown dwarfs are formed like stars, except that their full collapse phases are interrupted through dynamical interactions in small multiple systems, leading to the ejection of the lightest member. This disintegration is a stochastic process, often resulting in the expulsion of newborn low mass stars, but when it occurs early enough the ejected stellar embryo will be a substellar object. This process may be so common at early ages that a large fraction of the ubiquitous brown dwarfs could have formed in this manner. Detailed gas dynamical simulations are required in order to better understand the details of the decay of small newborn multiple systems. We discuss the observational consequences of the ejection hypothesis, noting especially the importance of binaries with brown dwarf components as an observational test. Finally, we note that brown dwarfs that have recently been ejected may be so disturbed, by infall from the collapsing core and also by heavy accretion from perturbed circumstellar disks, that traditional spectral and luminosity criteria may fail to identify their substellar nature.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

A Dynamical Origin for Brown Dwarfs

Brown dwarfs may have such low masses because they are prematurely ejected from small unstable multiple systems, while the members are still actively building up their masses. We demonstrate that this scenario is consistent with all currently existing observations of brown dwarfs, and propose further observational tests. We review the status of the latest realistic numerical simulations of disintegrating small N clusters, which show that many of the ejected members end up with masses that are substellar, drifting away from their birth region with velocities rarely exceeding 2 km/s.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

The Evolution of Stellar Exponential Discs

Models of disc galaxies which invoke viscosity-driven radial flows have long been known to provide a natural explanation for the origin of stellar exponential discs, under the assumption that the star formation and viscous timescales are comparable. We present models which invoke simultaneous star formation, viscous redistribution of gas and cosmologically-motivated gaseous infall and explore the predictions such models make for the scale length evolution and radial star formation history of galactic stellar discs. While the inclusion of viscous flows is essential for ensuring that the stellar disc is always exponential over a significant range in radius, we find that such flows play essentially no role in determining the evolution of the disc scale length. In models in which the main infall phase precedes the onset of star formation and viscous evolution, we find the exponential scale length to be rather invariant with time. On the other hand, models in which star formation/viscous evolution and infall occur concurrently result in a smoothly increasing scale length with time, reflecting the mean angular momentum of material which has fallen in at any given epoch. The disc stellar populations in these models are predominantly young (ie. ages < 5 Gyr) beyond a few scale lengths. In both cases, viscous flows are entirely responsible for transporting material to very large radii. We discuss existing observational constraints on these models from studies of both local and moderate redshift disc galaxies. In particular, a good agreement is found between the solar neighbourhood star formation history predicted by our infall model and the recent observational determination of this quantity by Rocha-Pinto et al (2000).

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

The Formation of Brown Dwarfs as Ejected Stellar Embryos

We conjecture that brown dwarfs are substellar objects because they have been ejected from small newborn multiple systems which have decayed in dynamical interactions. In this view, brown dwarfs are stellar embryos for which the star formation process was aborted before the hydrostatic cores could build up enough mass to eventually start hydrogen burning. The disintegration of a small multiple system is a stochastic process, which can be described only in terms of the half-life of the decay. A stellar embryo competes with its siblings in order to accrete infalling matter, and the one that grows slowest is most likely to be ejected. With better luck, a brown dwarf would therefore have become a normal star. This interpretation of brown dwarfs readily explains the rarity of brown dwarfs as companions to normal stars (aka the ``brown dwarf desert''), the absence of wide brown dwarf binaries, and the flattening of the low mass end of the initial mass function. Possible observational tests of this scenario include statistics of brown dwarfs near Class 0 sources, and the kinematics of brown dwarfs in star forming regions while they still retain a kinematic signature of their expulsion. Because the ejection process limits the amount of gas brought along in a disk, it is predicted that substellar equivalents to the classical T Tauri stars should be very rare.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Destruction of protoplanetary disks in the Orion Nebula Cluster

We use numerical N-body simulations of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) to investigate the destruction of protoplanetary disks by close stellar encounters and UV radiation from massive stars. The simulations model a cluster of 4000 stars, and we consider separately cases in which the disks have fixed radii of 100 AU and 10 AU. In the former case, depending on a star's position and orbit in the cluster over 10^7 years, UV photoevaporation removes at least 0.01 Msol from its disk, and can remove up to 1 Msol. We find no dynamical models of the ONC consistent with the suggestion of Storzer and Hollenbach that the observed distribution and abundance of proplyds could be explained by a population of stars on radial orbits which spend relatively little time near Theta 1C Ori (the most massive star in the ONC). Instead the observations require either massive disks (e.g. a typical initial disk mass of 0.4 Msol) or a very recent birth for Theta 1C Ori. When we consider the photoevaporation of the inner 10 AU of disks in the ONC, we find that planet formation would be hardly affected. Outside that region, planets would be prevented from forming in about half the systems, unless either the initial disk masses were very high or they formed in less than ~ 2 Myr and Theta 1C Ori has only very recently appeared. We also present statistics on the distribution of minimum stellar encounter separations. This peaks at 1000 AU, with less than 10% of stars having had an encounter closer than 100 AU after 10^7 years. We conclude that stellar encounters are unlikely to play a significant role in destroying protoplanetary disks. In the absence of any disruption mechanism other than those considered here, we would thus predict planetary systems like our own to be common amongst stars forming in ONC-like environments.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

Wide binaries in the Orion Nebula Cluster

Using proper motion data for 894 stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) compiled by Jones & Walker in 1988, we search for binaries with apparent separations in the range 1000-5000 AU, and find an upper limit of three. Using a Monte Carlo method, we test the consistency of this result with two hypotheses: i) that the cluster contains a binary population identical to that found in the solar neighbourhood, and ii) that the cluster contains no binaries at all in this separation range. We obtain results strongly favouring the latter hypothesis. Star formation in the Galaxy is seen to occur in a variety of different environments, but it has been proposed that most stars may be formed in dense regions similar to the ONC, rather than in less dense groupings like that found in Taurus-Auriga. Since roughly 15 per cent of galactic field stars are known to be in binaries with separations greater than 1000 AU, the apparent absence of such binaries in the ONC places an upper limit on the contribution that dense clusters can make to galactic star formation.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1995

Low Mass Companions to T~Tauri Stars: a Mechanism for Rapid-rise FU~Orionis Outbursts

We show that outside-in disc instabilities, which can produce rapid-\null rise FU Orionis outbursts in T~Tauri systems, are a natural consequence of the existence of protoplanetary protostellar companions. The \pcomp{} would be formed through gravitational instability on a dynamical timescale ($\sim 10^5\y$), and provided it was formed at less than a few \AU{}, it would be swept in to $\sim15\Rsun$ in less than $10^5\y$. A companion of mass $10^{-2}$\Msun at this radius would act as a flood gate which stores material upstream and periodically releases it following the ignition of the thermal ionisation instability.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1995

Satellites in Discs: Regulating the Accretion Luminosity

We demonstrate, using a simple analytic model, that the presence of a massive satellite can globally modify the structure and emission properties of an accretion disc to which it is tidally coupled. We show, using two levels of numerical approximation, that the analytic model gives reasonable results. The results are applicable to two astrophysical situations. In the case of an active galactic nucleus, we consider the case of a $\sim 10^3\Msun$ compact companion to the central black-hole and show that it could modulate the emitted spectrum on a timescale of $\sim10^5$ years. In the case of a T Tauri accretion disc, a satellite such as a sub-dwarf or giant planet could modify the disc spectral energy distribution over a substantial fraction of the T Tauri star lifetime.

astro-ph↗