Fragmentation of massive protostellar discs

By K. Kratter, C. Matzner. 2006

135 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We examine whether massive-star accretion discs are likely to fragment due to self-gravity. Rapid accretion and high angular momentum push these discs toward fragmentation, whereas viscous heating and the high protostellar luminosity stabilize them. We find that for a broad range of protostar masses and for reasonable accretion times, massive discs larger than ∼ 150 au are prone to fragmentation. We develop an analytical estimate for the angular momentum of accreted material, extending the analysis of Matzner & Levin to account for strongly turbulent initial conditions. In a core-collapse model, we predict that discs are marginally prone to fragmentation around stars of about 4-15 M ⊙ - even if we adopt conservative estimates of the discs' radii and tendency to fragment. More massive stars are progressively more likely to fragment, and there is a sharp drop in the stability of disc accretion at the very high accretion rates expected above 110 M ⊙ . Fragmentation may starve accretion in massive stars, especially above this limit, and is likely to create swarms of small, coplanar companions.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2fd823637ca47e2b1ea31856f954d0a0a69ae5c3

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

Citations in the corpus

Mind Your Ps and Qs: The Interrelation between Period (P) and Mass-ratio (Q) Distributions of Binary Stars (2016, methodology): “Utilizing analytic models, Kratter & Matzner (2006) predict that primordial disks around more massive stars are more prone to fragmentation.”
Stellar, brown dwarf and multiple star properties from a radiation hydrodynamical simulation of star cluster formation (2011, background): “Later in the star formation process, it may perhaps be assumed that the mass of the disc is less than that of the stellar object (i.e. the stellar mass should be wrong by less than a factor of 2; Kratter & Matzner 2006; Kratter, Matzner & Krumholz 2008; Kratter et al. 2010).”
The first stars: formation of binaries and small multiple systems (2009, result): “Analytical estimates concerning massive disk fragmentation by Kratter & Matzner (2006) showed interesting similarity to our results.”
Toward Understanding Massive Star Formation (2007, methodology): “The fragmentation of massive disks has recently been studied analytically by Kratter & Matzner (2006).”
THE RUNTS OF THE LITTER: WHY PLANETS FORMED THROUGH GRAVITATIONAL INSTABILITY CAN ONLY BE FAILED BINARY STARS (2009, background): “Because the conversion of accretion energy to thermal energy at large radii is inefficient, disks cannot restabilize through heating to arbitrarily high accretion rates (Kratter & Matzner 2006).”
Stellar, brown dwarf and multiple star properties from hydrodynamical simulations of star cluster formation (2008, background): “Rafikov (2005), Matzner & Levin (2005), Kratter & Matzner (2006), and Whitworth & Stamatellos (2006) have all pointed out that accurate treatments of radiative transfer are likely to significantly decrease disc fragmentation.”
LIMITING ACCRETION ONTO MASSIVE STARS BY FRAGMENTATION-INDUCED STARVATION (2010, methodology): “This is also supported by analytic estimates comparing typical accretion rates onto the disk with its ability to transport matter inwards through viscous and gravitational torques (Kratter & Matzner 2006; Kratter et al. 2010).”
THE FORMATION OF LOW-MASS BINARY STAR SYSTEMS VIA TURBULENT FRAGMENTATION (2010, background): “However, both simulations and analytic work predict that the more massive disks around high-mass stars undergo fragmentation leading to additional stellar companions (Kratter & Matzner 2006; Krumholz et al. 2007).”
THREE-DIMENSIONAL SIMULATION OF MASSIVE STAR FORMATION IN THE DISK ACCRETION SCENARIO (2011, result): “For a comparison of these outcomes with previous semi-analytic predictions including disk fragmentation, please see also Kratter & Matzner (2006); Kratter et al. (2008).”
Importance of the Initial Conditions for Star Formation - I. Cloud Evolution and Morphology (2010, methodology): “Concerning the first process, Kratter & Matzner (2006) derived an analytical model to address the fragmentation process in massive discs.”
Theory of Star Formation (2007, background): “…assuming steady state and accretion heating as well as irradiation (Matzner & Levin, 2005; Rafikov, 2005) indicate that fragmentation is only possible in the outer portions of disks, although more massive disks, around more massive stars, are more subject to fragmentation (Kratter & Matzner, 2006).”
ON THE ROLE OF DISKS IN THE FORMATION OF STELLAR SYSTEMS: A NUMERICAL PARAMETER STUDY OF RAPID ACCRETION (2009, background): “Kratter & Matzner 2006 (2006, hereafter KM06) and Kratter et al. 2008 (2008, hereafter KMK08) found that disk fragmentation and binary formation are increasingly likely as one considers more and more massive stars, whereas disks in low-mass star formation are relatively stable (Matzner & Levin…”
Global Models for the Evolution of Embedded, Accreting Protostellar Disks (2007, background): “In contrast to our previous work (Kratter & Matzner 2006; Matzner & Levin 2005), we find fragmentation at 16 smaller radii.”
The importance of radiative feedback for the stellar initial mass function (2008, background): “Rafikov (2005), Matzner & Levin (2005), Kratter & Matzner (2006), and Whitworth & Stamatellos (2006) have all pointed out that accurate treatments of radiative transfer are likely to significantly decrease disc fragmentation.”
Disk-mediated accretion burst in a high-mass young stellar object (2016, background): “sibly caused by disk fragmentation (2; 3; 4).”
The Close Binary Fraction of Solar-type Stars Is Strongly Anticorrelated with Metallicity (2018, background): “Disk fragmentation is thought to become more prominent for higher masses due to the increased infall rates and correspondingly higher ξ associated with high-mass star formation (Kratter & Matzner 2006; Kratter et al. 2010a).”
SOUTHERN MASSIVE STARS AT HIGH ANGULAR RESOLUTION: OBSERVATIONAL CAMPAIGN AND COMPANION DETECTION (2014, background): “High infall rates can lead to massive, gravitationally unstable disks, which in turn fragment to produce one or more bound objects that typically grow to stellar masses (Kratter & Matzner 2006; Krumholz et al. 2007; Kratter et al. 2010).”
Gravitational Instabilities in Circumstellar Disks (2016, methodology): “…et al. (1989), there is a growing consensus that GI-borne objects are most likely to evolve into either brown-dwarfs or stellar binary companions around sufficiently massive stars (Kratter & Matzner 2006; Kratter et al. 2010b; Stamatellos & Whitworth 2009b; Zhu et al. 2012; Forgan & Rice 2013).”