2001/11/27 by S. Ehlerova, S. Ehlerov, J. Palous +1 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05156.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 330 (2002) 1022 · 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted by MNRAS; see also astro-ph/0105530, astro-ph/0106010
arxiv created 2001/11/27 · openalex publication_date 2002/03/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We discuss fragmentation processes which induce star formation in the dense walls of expanding shells. We test the influence of the energy input, the interstellar medium scaleheight and the speed of sound in the ambient medium, and formulate the condition for the gravitational fragmentation of expanding shells: if the total surface density of the disc is higher than a certain critical value, the shells are unstable. The value of the critical density depends on the energy of the shell and the sound speed in the interstellar medium.