The formation of massive stars in 30 Doradus

Ian Bonnell

University of St Andrews

I will present recent work on the formation of a starburst-type cluster containing one million solar masses in gas and forming over 100000 masses in stars. Of particular interest is the distribution of the high-mass stars in the cluster relative to that seen in 30 Doradus. The high-mass stars form through ongoing competitive accretion is simulation. This may provide an explanation for the upper mass limit of stars due to the timescale for the accretion.