Formation and Evolution of Protostellar Disks in Young Star Clusters: Implications for the Origin of Binary Stars and Substellar Objects

年轻星团中原恒星盘的形成和演化：对双星和次星体起源的影响

• 批准号: 5452032
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Ralf Klessen, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2004-12-31 至 2010-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/5452032?language=en
• 关键词: Formation; Evolution; Protostellar; Disks; Young

Understanding the formation and evolution of protostellar disks is a key ingredient in star formation theory. The properties of such disks determine the probability of binary star formation. Furthermore, they define the environment where substellar-mass objects, the so called brown dwarfs, or planets and planetary systems build up. Detailed knowledge of protostellar disk evolution therefore is essential for understanding the properties of extrasolar planets, and bears great importance for understanding the origin of our own solar system. In the long run it may thus contribute to speculations about the origin of life on our planet and the possibility of life in ohter parts of the universe. These are fundamental questions with great appeal to the general public.The specific aim of this project is to study the formation of stars and substellar objects in turbulent interstellar gas clouds by means of numerical simulations. We will follow in great detail the evolution of protostars and their associated disks in nascent star clusters. As most stars form in a clustered environment, mutual interactions may drastically alter the evolutionary properties of protostellar disks and their ability to give birth to stars and substellar objects. This link has not yet been studied in sufficient detail and with sufficient numerical resolution.We will try to understand and predict the observed frequency of binary/multiple stellar systems, the overall efficiency of star formation, the boundedness of the resulting star clusters, the stellar and substellar mass spectrum, and the probability of forming substellar-mass objects in the disk. In particular, we will investigate in detail the efficiency of disk fragmentation as a possible mechanism for forming brown dwarfs and giant gas planets, and follow the long-term dynamical evolution of such systems as parts of dense clusters.

了解原恒星盘的形成和演化是恒星形成理论的关键要素。这种盘的特性决定了双星形成的概率。此外，它们还定义了亚恒星质量天体（所谓的褐矮星）或行星和行星系统形成的环境。因此，对原恒星盘演化的详细了解对于了解太阳系外行星的特性至关重要，并且对于了解我们太阳系的起源也具有重要意义。从长远来看，它可能有助于推测我们星球上生命的起源以及宇宙其他部分存在生命的可能性。这些都是对公众具有很大吸引力的基本问题。该项目的具体目的是通过数值模拟研究湍流星际气体云中恒星和次星物体的形成。我们将详细跟踪新生星团中原恒星及其相关盘的演化。由于大多数恒星是在星团环境中形成的，相互之间的相互作用可能会极大地改变原恒星盘的演化特性及其产生恒星和星下物体的能力。这一联系尚未得到足够详细和足够的数值分辨率的研究。我们将尝试理解和预测双星/多恒星系统的观测频率、恒星形成的总体效率、所得星团的有界性、恒星和亚恒星质量谱以及在盘中形成亚恒星质量物体的概率。特别是，我们将详细研究盘碎片作为形成棕矮星和巨型气体行星的可能机制的效率，并跟踪此类系统作为致密星团的一部分的长期动态演化。