EPoS Contribution
EPoS Contribution
The role of magnetic fields in star formation

Ralph Pudritz
McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
The role that magnetic fields play in star formation has been the subject of intense theoretical study for decades. Magnetic fields, if sufficiently strong, can prevent or strongly suppress gravitational collapse, prevent fragmentation of young protostellar disks into binary star systems, and enable the feedback of star formation on the surroundings by hydromagnetic disk and stellar winds. The advent of new computer codes has opened new frontiers in the exploration of these issues. I present the results of our recent 3D, MHD simulations that include("he.php"); the gas (known as ambipolar diffusion), and numerical adaptive mesh refinement. Our results have interesting implications for the role of magnetic fields and the origin of the IMF, disk formation and fragmentation, and the origin of outflows from protostellar disks and their role in regulating star formation. I compare our results with new observations, and connect them with future observational tests.