The Evolution of Star-Forming Gas in STARFORGE: From Clouds, to Cores, to Stars

TL;DR

This study uses simulations to track star-forming gas in GMCs, revealing how gas properties and accretion processes vary with stellar mass and magnetic fields, and how they relate to observed core characteristics.

Contribution

It provides detailed insights into the evolution of star-forming gas, linking core properties to accretion histories across different stellar masses and magnetic conditions.

Findings

Low-mass stars accrete for 0.5-0.6 Myr from local gas.

High-mass stars accrete over 3.3-4.7 Myr from larger volumes.

Gas properties resemble observed cores and are regulated by turbulence and feedback.

Abstract

Star formation occurs within dense regions of giant molecular clouds (GMCs), however, exactly how gas collects and evolves to form individual stars and what role dense cores play remains unclear. We use the Lagrangian cell information in the STARFORGE simulation suite to track star-forming gas in three GMCs with varying magnetic field strengths. We find that, once a protostar forms, the lifetime of the unaccreted gas correlates with the final stellar mass, where low-mass stars ($M_*$ < 0.5 M$_\odot$) accrete for 0.5-0.6 Myr from a relatively local reservoir of gas, and high-mass stars ($M_*$ > 2 M$_\odot$) accrete over 3.3-4.7 Myr from a much larger volume. Although the protostellar accretion time increases weakly with magnetic field strength, the accreting gas radii, velocity dispersions, virial parameters, and magnetic energy ratios are largely insensitive to the global cloud properties. At the time of protostar formation, the unaccreted gas exhibits linewidth-size and mass-size relations characteristic of turbulently regulated, isothermal dense cores, following $\sigma_v \propto R^{1.0-1.1}$ and $M \propto R^{0.47-0.55}$, respectively. Low- and intermediate-mass stars undergo relatively continuous accretion and their accretion histories are well-fit by either isothermal sphere, turbulent core, or competitive accretion models, where no one model fits all masses. However, many high-mass stars experience intermittent accretion and their accretion histories are not well-fit by any of these models. While the distribution of accreting gas is more extended than typically-defined dense cores, the physical properties and structure of the star-forming gas resemble those of observed cores and are largely regulated by turbulence and feedback.