FILAMENTARY CONDENSATIONS IN A YOUNG CLUSTER

Abstract

New models are presented for star-forming condensations in clusters. In each model, the condensation mass increases linearly with radius on small scales, and more rapidly on large scales, as in "thermal–nonthermal" models. Spherical condensations with this structure form protostars which match the initial mass function if their infall is subject to equally likely stopping. However, such spherical models do not match the filamentary nature of cluster gas, and they are too extended to form protostars having high mass and short spacing. Two hybrid models are presented, which are spherical on small scales and filamentary on large scales. In and around clusters, cores embedded in linear filaments match the elongation of cluster gas, and the central concentration of low-mass stars. In cluster centers, condensations require a low volume-filling factor to produce massive stars with short spacing. These may have stellate shape, where cores are nodes of filamentary networks, as seen in some simulations of colliding flows and collapsing turbulent clumps. A dense configuration of such stellate condensations may be indistinguishable from a clump forming multiple protostars via filamentary flow paths.