Feedback from winds and supernovae in massive stellar clusters – I. Hydrodynamics

By J. Pittard, H. Rogers. 2012

150 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We use 3D hydrodynamical models to investigate the effects of massive star feedback from winds and supernovae on inhomogeneous molecular material left over from the formation of a massive stellar cluster. We simulate the interaction of the mechanical energy input from a cluster with 3 O-stars into a giant molecular cloud (GMC) clump containing 3240 solar masses of molecular material within a 4 pc radius. The cluster wind blows out of the molecular clump along low-density channels, into which denser clump material is entrained. We find that the densest molecular regions are surprisingly resistant to ablation by the cluster wind, in part due to shielding by other dense regions closer to the cluster. Nonetheless, molecular material is gradually removed by the cluster wind during which mass-loading factors in excess of several 100 are obtained. Because the clump is very porous, 60-75 per cent of the injected wind energy escapes the simulation domain, with the difference being radiated. After 4.4 Myr, the massive stars in our simulation begin to explode as supernovae. The highly structured environment into which the SN energy is released allows even weaker coupling to the remaining dense material and practically all of the SN energy reaches the wider environment. The molecular material is almost completely dispersed and destroyed after 6 Myr. The escape fraction of ionizing radiation is estimated to be about 50 per cent during the first 4 Myr of the cluster's life. A similar model with a larger and more massive GMC clump reveals the same general picture, though more time is needed for it to be destroyed.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/342c2c9b2bcdd9baa11ff8b745dc19c8c3c6f310

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Citations in the corpus

The SILCC (SImulating the LifeCycle of molecular Clouds) project – I. Chemical evolution of the supernova-driven ISM (2014, background): “…gas, in the form of UV radiation (Dale et al. 2005; Dale, Ercolano & Bonnell 2012; Walch et al. 2012, 2013), stellar winds (Toalá & Arthur 2011; Rogers & Pittard 2013), and supernova (SN) explosions (Hill et al. 2012; Gatto et al. 2015; Kim & Ostriker 2015; Martizzi, Faucher-Giguère &…”
Modeling UV Radiation Feedback from Massive Stars. II. Dispersal of Star-forming Giant Molecular Clouds by Photoionization and Radiation Pressure (2018, background): “While some of the supernova energy escapes easily through low-density channels (e.g. Rogers & Pittard 2013; Walch & Naab 2015), and supernovae may undermine radiation feedback by compressing overdense structures, supernova feedback likely aids in destroying star-forming clouds overall (e.g. Geen et…”
The SILCC project - III. Regulation of star formation and outflows by stellar winds and supernovae (2016, background): “…& Thompson 2012), stellar winds (e.g. Wünsch et al. 2008, 2011; Pellegrini, Baldwin & Ferland 2011; Toalá & Arthur 2011; Dale, Ercolano & Bonnell 2012; Rogers & Pittard 2013; Mackey et al. 2015; Klassen et al. 2016), and supernova (SN) explosions (e.g. Mac Low et al. 2005; Dib, Bell & Burkert…”
The SILCC (SImulating the LifeCycle of molecular Clouds) project - II. Dynamical evolution of the supernova-driven ISM and the launching of outflows (2015, background): “Stellar winds might equally well counteract gravitational attraction due to the formation of hot low-density bubbles, found by theoretical estimates (Avedisova 1972; Castor, McCray & Weaver 1975; Weaver et al. 1977) as well as recent numerical simulations (Rogers & Pittard 2013; Dale et al. 2014).”
The energy and momentum input of supernova explosions in structured and ionized molecular clouds (2014, background): “Rogers & Pittard (2013) have simulated the evolution of very low mass (few ×103 M⊙) turbulent clouds under the influence of stellar winds and SN explosions.”
Before the first supernova: combined effects of H II regions and winds on molecular clouds (2014, unknown): “This limits the ability of our winds to entrain material from the clouds Rogers & Pittard (2013) simulated the effects of the winds and supernovae (but not the radiation) of three central O–stars on turbulent molecular clumps with masses ≈ 3× 103 and ≈ 1× 104M⊙, the latter being similar to our Runs…”