1996/04/11 by Paolo Padoan, Raul Jimenez, Bernard Jones · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/285.4.711
arxiv created 1996/04/11 · arxiv updated 2015/06/24
Using a new physical model for star formation (Padoan 1995) we have tested the possibility that globular clusters (GCs) are formed from primordial mass fluctuations, whose mass scale (108 - 109 M\odot) is selected out of a CDM spectrum by the mechanism of non-equilibrium formation of H2. We show that such clouds are able to convert about 0.003 of their total mass into a bound system (GC) and about 0.02 into halo stars. The metal enriched gas is dispersed away from the GC by supernova explosions and forms the galactic disk. These mass ratios between GCs, halo and disk depend on the predicted IMF which is a consequence of the universal statistics of fluid turbulence. They also depend on the ratio of baryonic over non-baryonic mass ,Xb, and are comparable with the values observed in typical spiral galaxies for Xb ≈ 0.1-0.2. The computed mass and radius for a GC ( 5× 105 M\odot and 30 pc) are in good agreement with the average values in the Galaxy. The model predicts an exponential cut off in the stellar IMF below 0.1 M\odot in GCs and 0.6 M\odot in the halo. The quite massive star formation in primordial clouds leads to a large number of supernovae and to a high blue luminosity during the first two Gyr of the life of every galaxy.