Computer simulations of the formation of massive protostars

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Abstract
We report computer simulations of massive protostar formation. The transformation of interstellar gas into protostellar gas occurs in the shocked layer of dense gas which forms where two subclouds of a giant molecular cloud collide supersonically. Because of radiative cooling, the shock compression is strong. Portions of the compressed gas become gravitationally unstable and collapse. The resulting protostars are rotationally supported discs with well-defined accretion surfaces, masses between 1 and 20 M⊙, diameters in the range 100–400 AU, and densities above |$10^{12} \enspace \text {H}_{2} \text {cm}^{-3},\text {i.e.} \enspace 10^{10}$| times the initial gas density. Protostars having comparable dimensions have been inferred from molecular line and dust continuum observations of star-forming regions in the Milky Way, and also by extrapolating backwards from the Solar system to a putative pre-solar nebula. However, this is the first time that such protostars have been produced in computer simulations where the collapse of initially stable gas clouds is triggered dynamically.

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