Three-dimensional calculations of the formation of the presolar nebula from a slowly rotating cloud

Abstract

The presolar nebula may have formed from the collapse of a very slowly rotating interstellar cloud. The first three-dimensional, hydrodynamical calculations of the collapse of such clouds are presented. The models include radiative transfer in the Eddington approximation, as well as detailed equations of state appropriate for the nonisothermal regime of protostellar evolution. Very slowly rotating clouds, i.e., those with initial ratios of rotational energy to gravitational energy of 10 −3 or less, avoid fragmentation and instead collapse to form single central objects, containing quasistatic cores with densities of about 10 −10 g cm −3. These cores are, however, surrounded by significantly nonaxisymmetric regions, such that the presolar nebula would have been bar-like over the scale of the present solar system. This nonaxisymmetry, coupled with differential rotation, results in gravitational torques that produce rapid outward transfer of angular momentum. The center of the presolar nebula should then be able to contract and collapse to pre-main-sequence densities without suffering fission or fragmentation.