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Three-dimensional MHD simulations of molecular cloud fragmentation regulated by gravity, ambipolar diffusion, and turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

Takahiro Kudoh
Affiliation:
Division of Theoretical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan email: kudoh@th.nao.ac.jp
Shantanu Basu
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada email: basu@astro.uwo.ca
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Abstract

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We find that the star formation is accelerated by the supersonic turbulence in the magnetically dominated (subcritical) clouds. We employ a fully three-dimensional simulation to study the role of magnetic fields and ion-neutral friction in regulating gravitationally driven fragmentation of molecular clouds. The time-scale of collapsing core formation in subcritical clouds is a few ×107 years when starting with small subsonic perturbations. However, it is shortened to approximately several ×106 years by the supersonic flows in the clouds. We confirm that higher-spacial resolution simulations also show the same result.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2009

References

Kudoh, T., Basu, S., Ogata, Y., & Yabe, T. 2007, MNRAS 380, 499CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kudoh, T. & Basu, S. 2008, ApJ 679, L97CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Z.-Y. & Nakamura, F. 2004, ApJ 609, L83CrossRefGoogle Scholar