Abstract
Opacity limited fragmentation is considered for a spherically-collapsing isothermal molecular cloud in a low temperature range where molecular hydrogen and grains are the only cooling and opacity sources. The minimum Jeans mass of a fragment is calculated for different values of the parameters. The form of the initial mass function (IMF) is derived for low-mass protostellar fragments for different values of the parameters. They are discussed and compared with observations. A rough estimate of the cloud mass contained in the brown-dwarf regime is given.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arny, T.: 1971,Astrophys. J. 169, 289.
Auluck, F. C. and Kothari, D. S.: 1954,Nature 174, 565.
Auluck, F. C. and Kothari, D. S.: 1965,Z. Astrophys. 63, 9.
Bahcall, J. N. and Casertano, S.: 1985,Astrophys. J. 293, L7.
Drukier, G. A., Fahlman, G. G., Richer, H. B., and Vanden Berg, D. A.: 1988,Astron. J. 95, 1415.
Fahlman, G. G., Richer, H. B., Searle, L., and Thompson, I. B.: 1989,Astrophys. J. 343, L49.
Ferrini, F., Palla, F., and Penco, U.: 1989, in R. Capuzzo-Dolcetta, C. Chiosi, and A. Di Fazio (eds.),Physical Processes in Fragmentation and Star Formation, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Holland.
Hawkins, M. R. S.: 1986,Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc. 223, 845.
Hirasawa, T.: 1969,Prog. Theor. Phys. 42, 523.
Kroupa, P. and Tout, C. A.: 1989,Münich Workshop.
Kruszewski, A.: 1961,Acta Astron. 11, 199.
Kushwaha, R. S. and Kothari, D. S.: 1960,Z. Astrophys. 51, 11.
Larson, R. B.: 1973,Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc. 161, 133.
Low, C. and Lynden-Bell, D.: 1976,Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc. 176, 367.
Matsuda, T., Satō, H., and Takeda, H.: 1969,Prog. Theor. Phys. 42, 219.
Miller, G. E. and Scalo, J. M.: 1979,Astrophys. J. Suppl. 41, 513.
Oort, J. H.: 1932,Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 6, 249.
Peebles, P. J. E. and Dicke, R. H.: 1968,Astrophys. J. 154, 891.
Reid, N.: 1987,Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc. 225, 873.
Richer, H. B. and Fahlman, G. G.: 1989,Astrophys. J. 339, 178.
Rubin, V. C., Burstein, D., Ford, W. K., Jr., and Thonnard, N.: 1985,Astrophys. J. 289, 81.
Salpeter, E. E.: 1955,Astrophys. J. 121, 161.
Silk, J.: 1977a,Astrophys. J. 214, 152.
Silk, J.: 1977b,Astrophys. J. 214, 718.
Suzuki, H., Miki, S., Sato, K., Kuguchi, M. and Nakagawa, Y.: 1966,Prog. Theor. Phys. 56, 1111.
Takebe, H., Unno, W., and Hatanaka, T.: 1962,Publ. Astron. Soc. Japan 14, 340.
Van den Bergh, S.: 1961,Astrophys. J. 134, 553.
Yoshii, Y. and Saioo, H.: 1986,Astrophys. J. 301, 587.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kanjilal, T., Basu, B. A study of the fragmentation of molecular clouds and the form of initial mass-function for low-mass protostellar fragments. Astrophys Space Sci 193, 17–28 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01070197
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01070197