2006/09/30 by Kaitlin M. Kratter, Christopher D. Matzner · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Angular momentum #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Classical mechanics #Fragmentation (computing) #Physics #Protostar #Star formation #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.11103.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.373:1563-1576,2006 · 15 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, updated version with minor changes to text
openalex publication_date 2006/11/08 · arxiv created 2006/11/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We examine whether massive-star accretion discs are likely to fragment due to self-gravity. Rapid accretion and high angular momentum push these discs toward fragmentation, whereas viscous heating and the high protostellar luminosity stabilize them. We find that for a broad range of protostar masses and for reasonable accretion times, massive discs larger than ∼150 au are prone to fragmentation. We develop an analytical estimate for the angular momentum of accreted material, extending the analysis of Matzner & Levin to account for strongly turbulent initial conditions. In a core-collapse model, we predict that discs are marginally prone to fragmentation around stars of about 4–15 M⊙– even if we adopt conservative estimates of the discs' radii and tendency to fragment. More massive stars are progressively more likely to fragment, and there is a sharp drop in the stability of disc accretion at the very high accretion rates expected above 110 M⊙. Fragmentation may starve accretion in massive stars, especially above this limit, and is likely to create swarms of small, coplanar companions.