Formation of Massive Star Clusters by Fast HI Gas Collision

Abstract

Young massive clusters (YMCs) are dense aggregates of young stars, which are essential to galaxy evolution, owing to their ultraviolet radiation, stellar winds, and supernovae. The typical mass and radius of YMCs are M~10^4 M_sun and R~1 pc, respectively, indicating that many stars are located in a small region. The formation of YMC precursor clouds may be difficult because a very compact massive cloud should be formed before stellar feedback blows off the cloud. Recent observational studies suggest that YMCs can be formed as a consequence of the fast HI gas collision with a velocity of ~100 km s^-1, which is the typical velocity of the galaxy-galaxy interaction. In this study, we examine whether the fast HI gas collision triggers YMC formation using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulations, which include the effects of self-gravity, radiative cooling/heating, and chemistry. We demonstrate that massive gravitationally bound gas clumps with M >10^4 M_sun and L~4 pc are formed in the shock compressed region induced by the fast HI gas collision, which massive gas clumps can evolve into YMCs. Our results show that the YMC precursors are formed by the global gravitational collapse of molecular clouds, and YMCs can be formed even in low-metal environments, such as the Magellanic Clouds. Additionally, the very massive YMC precursor cloud, with M >10^5 M_sun, can be created when we consider the fast collision of HI clouds, which may explain the origin of the very massive stellar cluster R136 system in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

9 pages, 12 figures, accepted by ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• The formation of massive stellar clusters in converging galactic flows with photoionisation
• An ALMA study of the massive molecular clump N159W-North in the Large Magellanic Cloud: A possible gas flow penetrating one of the most massive protocluster systems in the Local Group
• Nature of supersonic turbulence and density distribution function in the multiphase interstellar medium
• The formation of globular clusters with top-heavy initial mass functions
• Metallicity Dependence of Molecular Cloud Hierarchical Structure at Early Evolutionary Stages
• Properties of star formation of the Large Magellanic Cloud as probed by young stellar objects
• Investigating physical states of molecular gas in the overlapping region of interacting galaxies NGC4567/4568 using ALMA
• Dense clumps survive in the vicinity of R136 in 30 Doradus