2007/06/19 by Takahiro Kudoh, Shantanu Basu, Youichi Ogata +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Ambipolar diffusion #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Cloud computing #Computational physics #Fragmentation (computing) #Interplanetary magnetic field #Magnetic cloud #Magnetic field #Mechanics #Molecular cloud #Nuclear physics #Physics #Plasma #Solar wind #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Supercritical fluid #Supersonic speed #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12119.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.380:499-505,2007 · 8 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, a preprint with fine figures at http://yso.mtk.nao.ac.jp/~kudoh/publist_e.html
arxiv created 2007/06/19 · openalex publication_date 2007/08/30 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We employ the first fully three-dimensional simulation to study the role of magnetic fields and ion–neutral friction in regulating gravitationally driven fragmentation of molecular clouds. The cores in an initially subcritical cloud develop gradually over an ambipolar diffusion time while the cores in an initially supercritical cloud develop in a dynamical time. The infalling speeds on to cores are subsonic in the case of an initially subcritical cloud, while an extended (≳0.1 pc) region of supersonic infall exists in the case of an initially supercritical cloud. These results are consistent with previous two-dimensional simulations. We also found that a snapshot of the relation between density (ρ) and the strength of the magnetic field (B) at different spatial points of the cloud coincides with the evolutionary track of an individual core. When the density becomes large, both the relations tend to B∝ρ0.5.