Effects of the environment and feedback physics on the initial mass function of stars in the STARFORGE simulations

TL;DR

This study uses advanced star formation simulations to explore how environmental factors and feedback processes influence the initial mass function of stars, revealing the dominant role of protostellar jets and the relative unimportance of winds and supernovae.

Contribution

First cloud-scale RMHD simulations including all relevant feedback processes to analyze their effects on the stellar initial mass function.

Findings

Radiative feedback quenches star formation and disrupts clouds.

Protostellar jets primarily set the IMF peak.

Winds and supernovae have minimal impact on the IMF.

Abstract

One of the key mysteries of star formation is the origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF). The IMF is observed to be nearly universal in the Milky Way and its satellites, and significant variations are only inferred in extreme environments, such as the cores of massive elliptical galaxies. In this work we present simulations from the STARFORGE project that are the first cloud-scale RMHD simulations that follow individual stars and include all relevant physical processes. The simulations include detailed gas thermodynamics, as well as stellar feedback in the form of protostellar jets, stellar radiation, winds and supernovae. In this work we focus on how stellar radiation, winds and supernovae impact star-forming clouds. Radiative feedback plays a major role in quenching star formation and disrupting the cloud, however the IMF peak is predominantly set by protostellar jet physics. We find the effect of stellar winds is minor, and supernovae occur too late}to affect the IMF or quench star formation. We also investigate the effects of initial conditions on the IMF. The IMF is insensitive to the initial turbulence, cloud mass and cloud surface density, even though these parameters significantly shape the star formation history of the cloud, including the final star formation efficiency. The characteristic stellar mass depends weakly on metallicity and the interstellar radiation field. Finally, while turbulent driving and the level of magnetization strongly influences the star formation history, they only influence the high-mass slope of the IMF.