The interdependence between density PDF, CMF and IMF and their relation with Mach number in simulations

TL;DR

This study investigates how turbulence levels in the interstellar medium influence the gas density PDF, the initial mass function (IMF), and the cloud mass function (CMF), revealing that turbulence significantly affects star formation mass distributions.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the dependence of the IMF and CMF on turbulence, demonstrating the correlation between turbulence levels and mass distribution shapes in star-forming regions.

Findings

Lower turbulence leads to top-heavy IMF and CMF with power-law PDFs.

Higher turbulence results in Salpeter-like IMF and CMF with lognormal PDFs.

Turbulence level is a key factor in star formation mass distribution.

Abstract

The initial mass function (IMF) of stars and the corresponding cloud mass function (CMF), traditionally considered universal, exhibit variations that are influenced by the local environment. Notably, these variations are apparent in the distribution's tail, indicating a possible relationship between local dynamics and mass distribution. Our study is designed to examine how the gas PDF , the IMF and the CMF depend on the local turbulence within the interstellar medium (ISM). We run hydrodynamical simulations on small star-forming sections of the ISM under varying turbulence conditions, characterized by Mach numbers of 1, 3.5, and 10, and with two distinct mean densities. This approach allowed us to observe the effects of different turbulence levels on the formation of stellar and cloud masses. The study demonstrates a clear correlation between the dynamics of the cloud and the IMF. In environments with lower levels of turbulence likely dominated by gravitational collapse, our simulations showed the formation of more massive structures with a powerlaw gas PDF, leading to a top-heavy IMF and CMF. On the other hand environment dominated by turbulence result in a lognormal PDF and a Salpeter-like CMF and IMF. This indicates that the turbulence level is a critical factor in determining the mass distribution within star-forming regions.