Embedded, Accreting Disks in Massive Star Formation

TL;DR

This paper presents a semi-analytic model for massive, embedded accretion disks around forming stars, predicting their properties and the influence of gravitational instabilities on star system formation.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive, parameterized model that incorporates multiple angular momentum transport mechanisms and disk heating/cooling processes for massive star formation.

Findings

Predicted typical disk sizes, masses, and temperatures.

Estimated the role of gravitational instabilities in binarity and mass limits.

Provided a framework for interpreting future high-resolution observations.

Abstract

Recent advances in our understanding of massive star formation have made clear the important role of protostellar disks in mediating accretion. Here we describe a simple, semi-analytic model for young, deeply embedded, massive accretion disks. Our approach enables us to sample a wide parameter space of stellar mass and environmental variables, providing a means to make predictions for a variety of sources that next generation telescopes like ALMA and the EVLA will observe. Moreover we include, at least approximately, multiple mechanisms for angular momentum transport, a comprehensive model for disk heating and cooling, and a realistic estimate for the angular momentum in the gas reservoir. We make predictions for the typical sizes, masses, and temperatures of the disks, and describe the role of gravitational instabilities in determining the binarity fraction and upper mass cut-off.