Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-03T05:32:17.993Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Fragmentation Mechanism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Alan P. Boss*
Affiliation:
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Binary and multiple star systems may form by fragmentation, that is, through break-up of a dense molecular cloud core during the dynamical collapse phase that leads to the formation of protostellar objects. This review concentrates on theoretical models of fragmentation based on numerical hydrodynamical calculations in three spatial dimensions, using both finite-difference and smoothed particle hydrodynamics techniques. A variety of recent results are described, including calculations of the fragmentation of bar-like (prolate) clouds, fragmentation in clouds with initial power-law density and angular velocity distributions, tidally-induced fragmentation, fragmentation in cooling clouds, formation of hierarchical systems, and the dividing line between clouds that fragment and those that appear to form single protostars. A brief comparison of the predicted physical and dynamical properties of the theoretical fragments with the observed properties of main-sequence and pre-main-sequence binary stars lends supports to the hypothesis that fragmentation is the dominant formation mechanism for binary and multiple star systems. The major uncertainties regarding fragmentation are the extent to which precollapse clouds are susceptible to fragmentation, and the degree to which binary fragments undergo orbital decay and possibly mergers through interactions with the enveloping disk.

Type
Theoretical Aspects
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1992

References

Bestien, P., Arcoragi, J.-P., Benz, W., Bonnell, I., & Martel, H. 1991, ApJ, 378, 255 Google Scholar
Bodenheimer, P. 1978, ApJ, 224, 488 Google Scholar
Bodenheimer, P., Ruzmaikina, T., & Mathieu, R.D. 1992, In Protostars & Planets III ed. Levy, E.H., Lunine, J.I., and Matthews, M.S. (Tucson, University of Arizona), in pressGoogle Scholar
Bodenheimer, P., Tohline, J.E., & Black, D.C. 1980, ApJ, 242, 209 Google Scholar
Bonnell, I., Arcoragi, J.-P., Martel, H., & Bastien, P. 1992, ApJ, submittedGoogle Scholar
Bonnell, I., Martel, H., Bastien, P., Arcoragi, J.-P., & Benz, W. 1991, ApJ, 377, 553 Google Scholar
Boss, A.P. 1987, ApJ, 319, 149 Google Scholar
Boss, A.P. 1989, ApJ, 346, 336 Google Scholar
Boss, A.P. 1990, In Physical Processes in Fragmentation and Star Formation ed. Capuzzo-Dolcetta, R., Chiosi, C., and DiFazio, A. (Dordrecht, Kluwer), p. 279 Google Scholar
Boss, A.P. 1991, Nature, 351, 298 Google Scholar
Boss, A.P. 1992, In Close Binaries ed. Sahade, J., McCluskey, G., and Kondo, Y. (Dordrecht, Kluwer), in pressGoogle Scholar
Boss, A.P. & Myhill, E.A. 1992, ApJS submittedGoogle Scholar
Felice, F.D. & Sigalotti, L.D.G. 1991, MNRAS, 249, 248 Google Scholar
Hoyle, F. 1953, ApJ, 118, 513 Google Scholar
Hunter, c. 1962, ApJ, 135, 594 Google Scholar
Larson, R.B. 1972, MNRAS, 156, 437 Google Scholar
Miyama, S.M., Hayashi, C., & Narita, S. 1984, ApJ, 279, 621 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monaghan, J.J. & Lattanzio, J.C. 1991, ApJ, 375, 177 Google Scholar
Myers, P.C., Fuller, G.A., Goodman, A.A., & Benson, P.J. 1991, ApJ, 376, 551 Google Scholar
Myhill, E.A. & Kaula, W.M. 1992, ApJ, 386, 578 Google Scholar
Pringle, J.E. 1991, In The Physics of Star Formation and Early Stellar Evolution ed. Lada, C.J. and Kylafis, N.D. (Dordrecht, Kluwer), p. 437 Google Scholar
Shu, F.H. 1977, ApJ, 214, 488 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigalotti, L.D.G. 1990, MNRAS, 246, 243 Google Scholar
Sigalotti, L.D.G. & Klapp, J. 1992, MNRAS, 254, 111 Google Scholar
Tomisaka, K., Ikeuchi, S., & Nakamura, T. 1990, ApJ, 362, 202 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, S., Evans, N.J. II, Butner, H.M., Kutner, M.L., Leung, C.M., & Mundy, L.G. 1990, ApJ, 363, 168 Google Scholar