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| Paper: |
Observational Constraints on the Formation of Massive Stars |
| Volume: |
267, Hot Star Workshop III: the Earliest Stages of Massive Star Birth |
| Page: |
219 |
| Authors: |
Bally, J. |
| Abstract: |
Observable consequences of the two competing models for the formation of massive stars -- direct accretion from a cloud core or disk and protostellar mergers -- are explored and contrasted. It is proposed that circumstellar disks enhance the cross-section for protostellar merging and lower the required cluster density. Protostellar mergers are predicted to produce high luminosity transient infrared flares, poorly collimated and eruptive outflows, and thick expanding tori of circumstellar debris. In contrast, massive star formation by direct accretion is expected to produce little stellar photometric variability, relatively stable and thin circumstellar accretion disks, and bipolar outflows that are scaled-up versions of those produced by low-mass young stellar objects. |
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