Filamentary condensations in a young cluster

TL;DR

This paper introduces hybrid models for star-forming condensations in clusters, combining spherical and filamentary structures to better match observed gas morphology and star formation patterns.

Contribution

It proposes new hybrid models that incorporate filamentary structures on large scales and spherical cores on small scales, improving the understanding of cluster gas and star formation.

Findings

Spherical models match the initial mass function but lack filamentary features.

Hybrid models replicate filamentary elongation and core concentration in clusters.

Stellate condensations could explain dense star-forming regions with filamentary networks.

Abstract

New models are presented for star-forming condensations in clusters. In each model, the condensation mass increases linearly with radius on small scales, and more rapidly on large scales, as in "thermal-nonthermal" models. Spherical condensations with this structure form protostars which match the IMF if their infall is subject to equally likely stopping. However such spherical models do not match the filamentary nature of cluster gas, and they are too extended to form protostars having high mass and short spacing. Two hybrid models are presented, which are spherical on small scales and filamentary on large scales. In and around clusters, cores embedded in linear filaments match the elongation of cluster gas, and the central concentration of low-mass stars. In cluster centers, condensations require a low volume filling factor to produce massive stars with short spacing. These may have stellate shape, where cores are nodes of filamentary networks, as seen in some simulations of colliding flows and of collapsing turbulent clumps. A dense configuration of such stellate condensations may be indistinguishable from a clump forming multiple protostars via filamentary flow paths.