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| Paper: |
The role of dense cores in isolated and cluster star formation |
| Volume: |
13, The Formation and Evolution of Star Clusters |
| Page: |
73 |
| Authors: |
Myers, P. C. |
| Abstract: |
Recent observations with imaging arrays indicate that many young massive stars are accompanied by hundreds of previously unknown low-mass stars. The problem of how stars form in clusters has therefore taken on increased importance. Dense cores in embedded clusters tend to have greater size, density, and velocity dispersion than do more isolated cores. These differences can be attributed to the deeper gravitational well and to the greater concentration of mass in molecular clouds with embedded clusters than in molecular clouds without clusters. These core properties imply that cores in embedded clusters have a substantially greater rate of mass accretion than do isolated cores. This difference in dense core accretion rates should grow more pronounced as a cluster accumulates more matter and forms more stars. Thus, cores in and near a young cluster may resemble isolated, low-mass cores and produce low-mass stars, while cores in a more developed cluster may tend to have more mass, and to produce more massive stars. |
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