arXiv subjects

Ian A. Bonnell

Publications and source records attributed to Ian A. Bonnell.

64 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2001

The Formation of Massive Stars through Stellar Collisions

In this review, I present the case for how massive stars may form through stellar collisions. This mechanism requires very high stellar densities, up to 4 orders of magnitude higher than are observed in the cores of dense young clusters. In this model, the required stellar densities arise due to gas accretion onto stars in the cluster core, including the precursers of the massive stars. This forces the core to contract until the stellar densities are sufficiently high for collisions to occur. Gas accretion is also likely to play a major role in determining the distribution of stellar masses in the cluster as well as the observed mass segregation. One of the main advantages of this mechanism is that it explicitly relies on the cluster environment in order to produce the massive stars. It is thus in a position to explain the relation between clustered and massive star formation which is not an obvious outcome of an isolated accretion mechanism. A recent numerical simulation supports this model as the cluster core increases its density by $10^5$ during gas accretion. Approximately 15 stellar collisions occur (with $R_{coll}=1$ au) in the cluster core, making a significant contribution to the mass of the most massive star.

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arXiv2001

Free floating planets in stellar clusters?

We have simulated encounters between planetary systems and single stars in various clustered environments. This allows us to estimate the fraction of systems liberated, the velocity distribution of the liberated planets, and the separation and eccentricity distributions of the surviving bound systems. Our results indicate that, for an initial distribution of orbits that is flat in log space and extends out to 50AU, 50% of the available planets can be liberated in a globular cluster, 25% in an open cluster, and less than 10% in a young cluster. These fractions are reduced to 25%, 12% and 2% if the initial population extends only to 20AU. Furthermore, these free-floating planets can be retained for longer than a crossing time only in a massive globular cluster. It is therefore difficult to see how planets, which by definition form in a disc around a young star, could be subsequently liberated to form a significant population of free floating substellar objects in a cluster.

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arXiv2000

Planetary dynamics in stellar clusters

We investigate how the formation and evolution of extrasolar planetary systems can be affected by stellar encounters that occur in the crowded conditions of a stellar cluster. Using plausible estimates of cluster evolution, we show how planet formation may be supressed in globular clusters while planets wider than 0.1 AU that do form in such environments can be ejected from their stellar system. Less crowded systems such as open clusters have a much reduced effect on any planetary system. Planet formation is unaffected in open clusters and only the wider planetary systems will be disrupted during the cluster's lifetime. The potential for free-floating planets in these environments is also discussed.

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arXiv2000

Competitive Accretion in Clusters and the IMF

Observations have revealed that most stars are born in clusters. As these clusters typically contain more mass in gas than in stars, accretion can play an important role in determining the final stellar masses. Numerical simulations of gas accretion in stellar clusters have found that the stars compete for the available reservoir of gas. The accretion rates are highly nonuniform and are determined primarily by each star's position in the cluster. Stars in the centre accrete more gas, resulting in initial mass segregation. This competitive accretion naturally results in a mass spectrum and is potentially the dominant mechanism for producing the initial mass function. Furthermore, accretion on to the core of a cluster forces it to shrink, which may result in formation of massive stars through collisions.

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arXiv1999

Early Evolution of Stellar Clusters

Observations have revealed that most stars are born in clusters. These systems, containing from tens to thousands of stars and typically significant mass in gas in the youngest systems, evolve due to a combination of stellar and star-gas interactions. Simulations of pure stellar systems are used to investigate possible initial configurations including ellipticity, substructure and mass segregation. Simulations of gas-rich clusters investigate the effects of accretion on the cluster dynamics and on the individual masses that result in a stellar mass spectrum. Further stellar interactions, including binary destruction and eventually cluster dissolution are also discussed.

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arXiv1999

The Ages of Pre-main-sequence Stars

The position of pre-main-sequence or protostars in the Hertzsprung--Russell diagram is often used to determine their mass and age by comparison with pre-main-sequence evolution tracks. On the assumption that the stellar models are accurate, we demonstrate that, if the metallicity is known, the mass obtained is a good estimate. However, the age determination can be very misleading because it is significantly (generally different by a factor of two to five) dependent on the accretion rate and, for ages less than about one million years, the initial state of the star. We present a number of accreting protostellar tracks that can be used to determine age if the initial conditions can be determined and the underlying accretion rate has been constant in the past. Because of the balance established between the Kelvin-Helmholtz, contraction timescale and the accretion timescale a pre-main-sequence star remembers its accretion history. Knowledge of the current accretion rate, together with an H--R-diagram position gives information about the rate of accretion in the past but does not necessarily improve any age estimate. We do not claim that ages obtained by comparison with these particular accreting tracks are likely to be any more reliable than those from comparisons with non-accreting tracks. Instead we stress the unreliability of any such comparisons and use the disparities between various tracks to estimate the likely errors in age and mass estimates. We also show how a set of coeval accreting objects do not appear coeval when compared with non-accreting tracks. Instead accreting pre-main-sequence stars of around a solar mass are likely to appear older than those of either smaller or larger mass.

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arXiv1999

The Formation of Stellar Clusters

We review recent work that investigates the formation of stellar clusters, ranging in scale from globular clusters through open clusters to the small scale aggregates of stars observed in T associations. In all cases, recent advances in understanding have been achieved through the use of state of the art stellar dynamical and gas dynamical calculations, combined with the possibility of intercomparison with an increasingly large dataset on young clusters. Among the subjects that are highlighted are the frequency of cluster-mode star formation, the possible relationship between cluster density and the highest stellar mass, subclustering and the dynamical interactions that occur in compact aggregates, such as binary star formation. We also consider how the spectrum of stellar masses may be shaped by the process of competitive accretion in dense environments and how cluster properties, such as mass segregation and cluster morphology, can be used in conjunction with numerical simulations to investigate the initial conditions for cluster formation. Lastly, we contrast bottom-up and top-down scenarios for cluster formation and discuss their applicability to the formation of clusters on a range of scales.

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arXiv1998

Magnetospheric Accretion and PMS Stellar Masses

We present a method of determining lower limits on the masses of pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars and so constraining the PMS evolutionary tracks. This method uses the red-shifted absorption feature observed in some emission-line profiles of T Tauri stars indicative of infall. The maximum velocity of the accreting material measures the potential energy at the stellar surface, which, combined with an observational determination of the stellar radius, yields the stellar mass. This estimate is a lower limit owing to uncertainties in the geometry and projection effects. Using available data, we show that the computed lower limits can be larger than the masses derived from PMS evolutionary tracks for M < 0.5 M_\odot. Our analysis also supports the notion that accretion streams do not impact near the stellar poles but probably hit the stellar surface at moderate latitudes.

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arXiv1998

On the Formation of Massive Stars

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 sufficient to reverse the infall of gas. Instead, the central core of the cluster accretes from the surrounding gas, thereby decreasing its radius until collisions between individual components become significant. These components are, in general, intermediate-mass stars that have formed through accretion onto low-mass protostars. Once a sufficiently massive star has formed to expel the remaining gas, the cluster expands in accordance with this loss of mass, halting further collisions. This process implies a critical stellar density for the formation of massive stars, and a high rate of binaries formed by tidal capture.

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arXiv1994

The formation of close binary systems

A viable solution to the origin of close binary systems, unaccounted for in recent theories, is presented. Fragmentation, occurring at the end of the secondary collapse phase (during which molecular hydrogen is dissociating), can form binary systems with separations less than 1 au. Two fragmentation modes are found to occur after the collapse is halted. The first consists of the fragmentation of a protostellar disc due to rotational instabilities in a protostellar core, involving both an $m=1$ and an $m=2$ mode. This fragmentation mechanism is found to be insensitive to the initial density distribution: it can occur in both centrally condensed and uniform initial conditions. The second fragmentation mode involves the formation of a rapidly rotating core at the end of the collapse phase which is unstable to the axisymmetric perturbations. This core bounces into a ring which quickly fragments into several components. The binary systems thus formed contain less than 1 per cent of a solar mass and therefore will need to accrete most of their final mass if they are to form a binary star system. Their orbital properties will thus be determined by the properties of the accreted matter.

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