Importance of the Initial Conditions for Star Formation - I. Cloud Evolution and Morphology

TL;DR

This study investigates how different initial density profiles and turbulence in turbulent cloud cores influence star formation, revealing that initial conditions significantly affect fragmentation, star mass distribution, and cluster formation.

Contribution

It systematically analyzes the impact of various initial density profiles and turbulence types on star formation outcomes using high-resolution simulations.

Findings

Flat core density profiles produce many low-mass stars.

Steep profiles tend to form a single high-mass star centrally.

Initial conditions influence the shape of the initial mass function.

Abstract

We present a detailed parameter study of collapsing turbulent cloud cores, varying the initial density profile and the initial turbulent velocity field. We systematically investigate the influence of different initial conditions on the star formation process, mainly focusing on the fragmentation, the number of formed stars, and the resulting mass distributions. Our study compares four different density profiles (uniform, Bonnor-Ebert type, $\rho\propto r^{-1.5}$, and $\rho\propto r^{-2}$), combined with six different supersonic turbulent velocity fields (compressive, mixed, and solenoidal, initialised with two different random seeds each) in three-dimensional simulations using the adaptive-mesh refinement, hydrodynamics code FLASH. The simulations show that density profiles with flat cores produce hundreds of low-mass stars, either distributed throughout the entire cloud or found in subclusters, depending on the initial turbulence. Concentrated density profiles always lead to the formation of one high-mass star in the centre of the cloud and, if at all, low-mass stars surrounding the central one. In uniform and Bonnor-Ebert type density distributions, compressive initial turbulence leads to local collapse about 25% earlier than solenoidal turbulence. However, central collapse in the steep power-law profiles is too fast for the turbulence to have any significant influence. We conclude that (I) the initial density profile and turbulence mainly determine the cloud evolution and the formation of clusters, (II) the initial mass function (IMF) is not universal for all setups, and (III) that massive stars are much less likely to form in flat density distributions. The IMFs obtained in the uniform and Bonnor-Ebert type density profiles are more consistent with the observed IMF, but shifted to lower masses.