EPoS Contribution
EPoS Contribution
Gas expulsion phase as key to early phase of massive star formation

Susanne Pfalzner
MPIfR, Bonn, DE
Massive star formation is still insufficiently understood. The reasons are manifold; there are few massive star-forming regions nearby, the formation phase is very short, the earliest phases are deeply embedded. However, once formed these systems develop in a highly deterministic way, meaning the initial conditions determine the future development. Vis versa, one can draw conclusions from the later phases to the initial conditions. Here we look at the expansion phase of massive clusters after gas expulsion to draw conclusions about the early formation phase. We show how looking at clusters in the age range of 2-20 Myr allows to determine the properties of massive clusters at an age < 1 Myr. We demonstrate that the cluster expansion phase is the key to the determining the star formation efficiency, star formation history, the typical cluster size, the binary fraction, etc. for massive clusters.
Collaborators:
T. Kaczmarek, MPIfR, Germany
Key publication

Suggested Sessions: Massive Star Formation and Feedback