High-resolution simulations of clump-clump collisions using SPH with Particle Splitting

Abstract

We investigate, by means of numerical simulations, the phenomenology of star formation triggered by low-velocity collisions between low-mass molecular clumps. The simulations are performed using an SPH code which satisfies the Jeans condition by invoking On-the-Fly Particle Splitting. Clumps are modelled as stable truncated (non-singular) isothermal, i.e. Bonnor-Ebert, spheres. Collisions are characterised by M_0 (clump mass), b (offset parameter, i.e. ratio of impact parameter to clump radius), and M (Mach Number, i.e. ratio of collision velocity to effective post-shock sound speed). The gas subscribes to a barotropic equation of state, which is intended to capture (i) the scaling of pre-collision internal velocity dispersion with clump mass, (ii) post-shock radiative cooling, and (iii) adiabatic heating in optically thick protostellar fragments. The efficiency of star formation is found to vary between 10% and 30% in the different collisions studied and it appears to increase with decreasing M_0, and/or decreasing b, and/or increasing M. For b<0.5 collisions produce shock compressed layers which fragment into filaments. Protostellar objects then condense out of the filaments and accrete from them. The resulting accretion rates are high, 1 to 5 x 10^{-5} M_sun yr^{-1}, for the first 1 to 3 x 10^4 yrs. The densities in the filaments, n >~ 5 x 10^5 cm^{-3}, are sufficient that they could be mapped in NH_3 or CS line radiation, in nearby star formation regions.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 21 pages; 25 figures. Four figures are provided separately in reduced jpg format due to their large original ps size: click on "PostScript" to have direct access to the 4 jpg figures; full size ps files for these 4 figures can be found at http://www.aip.de/People/skitsionas/papers/

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