Date of Award
May 2018
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Physics
First Advisor
Philip Chang
Committee Members
Jolien Creighton, Dawn Erb, David Kaplan, Alan Wiseman
Keywords
formation - galaxies, star clusters, star formation, turbulence - stars
Abstract
In this dissertation, I explore the time-variable rate of star formation, using both numerical and analytic techniques. I discuss the dynamics of collapsing regions, the effect of protostellar jets, and development of software for use in the hydrodynamic code RAMSES. I perform high-resolution adaptive mesh refinement simulations of star formation in self-gravitating turbulently driven gas. I have run simulations including hydrodynamics (HD), and HD with protostellar jet feedback. Accretion begins when the turbulent fluctuations on largescales, near the driving scale, produce a converging flow. I find that the character of the collapse changes at two radii, the disk radius $r_d$, and the radius $r_*$ where the enclosed gas mass exceeds the stellar mass. This is the first numerical work to show that the density evolves to a fixed attractor, $\rho(r,t ) \rightarrow \rho(r)$, for $r_d
Recommended Citation
Murray, Daniel William, "Turbulent Collapse of Gravitationally Bound Clouds" (2018). Theses and Dissertations. 1880.
https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1880