paper

A universal route for the formation of massive star clusters in giant molecular clouds

arXiv:1808.07080 · doi:10.1038/s41550-018-0506-0

Abstract

Young massive star clusters (YMCs, with M 10 M) are proposed modern-day analogues of the globular clusters (GCs) that were products of extreme star formation in the early universe. The exact conditions and mechanisms under which YMCs form remain unknown -- a fact further complicated by the extreme radiation fields produced by their numerous massive young stars. Here we show that GC-sized clusters are naturally produced in radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of isolated 10 M Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) with properties typical of the local universe, even under the influence of radiative feedback. In all cases, these massive clusters grow to GC-level masses within 5 Myr via a roughly equal combination of filamentary gas accretion and mergers with several less massive clusters. Lowering the heavy-element abundance of the GMC by a factor of 10 reduces the opacity of the gas to radiation and better represents the high-redshift formation conditions of GCs. This results in higher gas accretion leading to a mass increase of the largest cluster by a factor of ~4. When combined with simulations of less massive GMCs (10 M), a clear relation emerges between the maximum YMC mass and the mass of the host GMC. Our results demonstrate that YMCs, and potentially GCs, are a simple extension of local cluster formation to more massive clouds and do not require suggested exotic formation scenarios.

arXiv commentSubmitted version to Nature Astronomy. Final published paper, and online supplementary material, available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0506-0

References in corpus (42)

Cited by in corpus (40)