The Star Formation Rate of Supersonic MHD Turbulence

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new physical model for the star formation rate in supersonic MHD turbulence, validated by large simulations, highlighting the roles of turbulence, magnetic fields, and gravitational energy.

Contribution

The model uniquely predicts how star formation rate depends on virial parameter, Mach number, and magnetic pressure, differing from previous models like Krumholz and McKee.

Findings

SFR decreases with increasing virial parameter.

SFR increases with Mach number for constant virial parameter.

Magnetic fields significantly reduce the SFR, even when weak.

Abstract

This work presents a new physical model of the star formation rate (SFR), verified with an unprecedented set of large numerical simulations of driven, supersonic, self-gravitating, magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, where collapsing cores are captured with accreting sink particles. The model depends on the relative importance of gravitational, turbulent, magnetic, and thermal energies, expressed through the virial parameter, alpha_vir, the rms sonic Mach number, M_S,0, and the ratio of mean gas pressure to mean magnetic pressure, beta_0. The SFR is predicted to decrease with increasing alpha_vir (stronger turbulence relative to gravity), to increase with increasing M_S,0 (for constant values of alpha_vir), and to depend weakly on beta_0 for values typical of star forming regions (M_S,0 ~ 4-20 and beta_0 ~ 1-20). In the unrealistic limit of beta_0 -> infinity, that is in the complete absence of a magnetic field, the SFR increases approximately by a factor of three, which shows the importance of magnetic fields in the star formation process, even when they are relatively weak (super-Alfvenic turbulence). In this non-magnetized limit, our definition of the critical density for star formation has the same dependence on alpha_vir, and almost the same dependence on M_S,0, as in the model of Krumholz and McKee, although our physical derivation does not rely on the concepts of local turbulent pressure and sonic scale. However, our model predicts a different dependence of the SFR on alpha_vir and M_S,0 than the model of Krumholz and McKee. The star-formation simulations used to test the model result in an approximately constant SFR, after an initial transient phase. Both the value of the SFR and its dependence on the virial parameter found in the simulations are shown to agree very well with the theoretical predictions.