Can Clump Properties Predict Core Distribution in Star Formation? A Statistical Analysis of MHD Simulations

TL;DR

This study uses MHD simulations to analyze how clump properties relate to core distribution in star formation, finding weak correlations and emphasizing the dominant role of gravity over other factors.

Contribution

It provides a systematic statistical analysis of the relationship between clump properties and core distribution, highlighting the limited predictive power of clump characteristics.

Findings

Weak correlation between core distribution and clump properties.

Turbulence influences core fragmentation and distribution.

Gravity dominates in determining overall core distribution.

Abstract

Dense cores, the progenitors of stars, are in sub-pc scale and fragmented from pc-scale clumps. However, it is still unclear that how strongly the fragmentation process is affected by the properties of the host clumps, and how these properties influence the core distribution observed in recent millimeter (mm) and sub-mm observations. To systematically investigate this relation, we employed MHD simulations of convergent flows to generate a large sample of clumps and analyzed their properties using various techniques. Alignment parameters were used to quantify core distribution, while energy terms were calculated to assess the influence of gravity, magnetic fields, and turbulence. We found the core distribution only exhibiting weak correlations between alignment parameters and clump properties. For an individual clump, turbulence is believed to significantly contribute to these features by inducing non-homologous collapse and ongoing fragmentation. Nevertheless, for the entire population, more compact core distributions are observed due to the dominance of gravity. Overall, these factors suggest that clump properties are not sufficient to accurately determine core distribution.