1 / 13

Disk fragmentation, the Brown Dwarf Desert, and the Stellar Upper Mass Limit

Disk fragmentation, the Brown Dwarf Desert, and the Stellar Upper Mass Limit. Chris Matzner University of Toronto. Yuri Levin, U. Leiden Kaitlin Kratter, U. Toronto. Disk fragmentation in the main accretion phase.

cyma
Download Presentation

Disk fragmentation, the Brown Dwarf Desert, and the Stellar Upper Mass Limit

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Disk fragmentation, the Brown Dwarf Desert, and the Stellar Upper Mass Limit Chris Matzner University of Toronto Yuri Levin, U. Leiden Kaitlin Kratter, U. Toronto

  2. Disk fragmentation in the main accretion phase Which protostellar disks accrete stably, and which undergo gravitational fragmentation? Fragmentation is sensitive to the thermal evolution of the disk…* *see posters by Kai, Stamatellos Patel et al 04

  3. Gammie 2001 Disk fragments when… and Most useful for: - Self-luminous disks with negligible irradiation - Setting lower limits on the radius of fragmentation and Mfrag Rafikov; Whitworth & Stamatellos

  4. Gammie 2001 Disk fragments when… This form is most useful for: - Disks heated by irradiation as well as viscosity - Disks with imposed mass accretion

  5. Fed by collapsing mol. core Implication: A disk fragments if it is cooler than its core

  6. Innermost streamline Outflow cavity Reprocessed starlight Infall Low-mass star formation CDM & Y.Levin 2005 Disk fragments when Accretion heating alone stabilizes the disk for periods less than a few centuries. see poster by Stamatellos Irradiation by reprocessed starlight can stabilize it out to thousands of years! see poster by Kai

  7. Grether & Lineweaver 2006 Stabilized by irradiation Stabilized by viscous heating

  8. Massive star formation Kratter & CDM 2006 Destabilizing effect More rapid accretion: fragment when Stabilizing effect More luminous central star Which wins?

  9. Kratter & CDM 2006

  10. Observer’s-eye view Kratter & CDM 2006 toroids disks

  11. Theorists-eye view Kratter & CDM 2006 McKee & Tan 2003 (fiducial model) Sharp drop in dust opacity at high accn rates Fragmentation accelerates as mass increases

  12. Stellar upper mass limit If not radiation pressure, then disk fragmentation? Few other mechanisms get worse above a threshold

  13. Conclusions & Challenges For Numericists: Isothermal codes should make too many BDs by disk fragmentation Radiation-diffusion: stabilize out to century periods Irradiation, outflow cavity: stabilize even further For Observers: Find 0.1-1 (or more) companions 150 AU (or less) from young O stars Find gravitational spirals in the gas For Theorists Brown Dwarf Desert and upper mass limit are both made in disks? Must account for magnetic fields! Must model global modes for massive disks. (w/ M. Krumholz & K. Kratter)

More Related