2004/02/18 by S. Schmeja, R. S. Klessen
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Advanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Fragmentation (computing) #High mass #Protostar #Star formation #Stellar mass #Thermal #Turbulence #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20034375
published as Astron.Astrophys. 419 (2004) 405 · 13 pages, 6 figures; accepted by A&A
arxiv created 2004/02/18 · openalex publication_date 2004/05/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We analyse protostellar mass accretion rates from numerical models of star formation based on gravoturbulent fragmentation, considering a large number of different environments. To within one order of magnitude, with being the mean thermal Jeans mass and the corresponding free-fall time. However, mass accretion rates are highly time-variant, with a sharp peak shortly after the formation of the protostellar core. We present an empirical exponential fit formula to describe the time evolution of the mass accretion and discuss the resulting fit parameters. There is a positive correlation between the peak accretion rate and the final mass of the protostar. We also investigate the relation of with the turbulent flow velocity as well as with the driving wavenumbers in different environments. We then compare our results with other theoretical models of star formation and with observational data.