Stars, Star Clusters & Molecular Clouds

Many members of our group study the formation of individual stars, star clusters, molecular clouds, and structures within the interstellar medium. These movies were put together by Mike Grudic and David Guszejnov, studying the origin of stellar masses, the formation and destruction of molecular clouds, their collapse into individual stars and star clusters, and the dynamical evolution of those clusters after they form.

Formation of a Star Cluster in a Turbulent Cloud

This shows the formation of a star cluster from a turbulent giant molecular cloud (GMC). Shocks form dense filaments that collapse to form stars. The orange shows the gas, blue shows newly formed stars. Radiation from those stars heats and blows away the medium around until it disperses. The dense, clustered nuggets form new star clusters.

Star Cluster Formation in a Galactic Nucleus

This shows the formation of a star cluster from a dense, rotating disk, similar to what is seen in the centers of massive galactic nuclei (e.g. galaxy mergers). Shocks form dense filaments that collapse to form stars. The orange shows the gas, blue shows newly formed stars. Radiation from those stars heats and blows away the medium around until it disperses. The dense, clustered nuggets form new star clusters.

Zooming into Star Formation in a GMC

This shows the formation of a star cluster from a turbulent giant molecular cloud (GMC), zooming into smaller scales. Shocks form dense filaments that collapse to form stars. The orange shows the gas, blue shows newly formed stars. Radiation from those stars heats and blows away the medium around until it disperses. The dense, clustered nuggets form new star clusters.

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Turbulent Fragmentation of a Massive Core

This shows the collapse of a proto-stellar core to form a broad spectrum of stellar masses which continues to fragment without limit, as "feedback" from stars is not included here. Critically, the initial cloud is not able to support itself via thermal pressure, so collapse and turbulence "run away."

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Homologous collapse of sub-sonic clouds

This shows the collapse of a proto-stellar core to form a single massive primary star and a few small fragments. Critically, the initial cloud is highly sub-sonic, and thermally-pressure supported, so the collapse is "gentle."

Formation of an OB association in the Milky Way

Here we simulate a 2 million solar mass molecular cloud with radius 100 parsecs, using driven isothermal MHD turbulence as our initial conditions. We form a hierarchically-clustered complex resembling the Carina OB1 association, with both bound and unbound clusters, including a mixture of clusters that are long-lived and ones that undergo infant mortality.