Protostars and Planets VI, Heidelberg, July 15-20, 2013

Poster 1H006

RMHD Simulations of Protostellar Collapse: Low-Metallicity Environment

Tomida, Kengo (Princeton University)

Abstract:
We investigate star formation processes in low-metallicity environments using 3D radiation hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic simulations in comparison with models with solar abundance. The entropy at the center of first cores becomes lower because radiation cooling is more efficient due to lower dust opacities. As a result, first cores are smaller and have shorter lifetimes. This implies that first cores tend to be more gravitationally-unstable and susceptible to fragmentation. On the other hand, the structure of proto-stellar cores after the second collapse depends on metallicities very weakly. This is because the gravitational energy released in the second collapse dominates the thermodynamical properties of protostellar cores. This result suggests that the initial conditions of stellar evolution only weakly depend on the environmental parameters.

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