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| EPoS Contribution |
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Disks and the formation of stellar systems
Kaitlin M. Kratter University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada | |
| Accretion disks mediate the flow of gas and angular momentum from molecular clouds down to the protostar. I describe the role of disks in the formation of binary and multiple systems, and the subsequent evolution of their orbital parameters. Using global numerical experiments, I show that we can characterize the onset of disk instability and fragmentation as a function of the infall rate. These models provide a useful framework for connecting observations of the earliest phases of star formation, theoretical models of disk evolution, and the stellar initial mass function. | |
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| Caption: This movie shows the formation of a binary from a disk, and the corresponding power in low order azimuthal fourier modes within the disk . The color shows column density, and 'x's' mark the location of sink particles. | |
| Collaborators: C.D. Matzner, University of Toronto, Canada M.R. Krumholz, UC Santa Cruz, USA R.I. Klein, UC Berkeley/LLNL, USA |
Key publication
Suggested Session: Early Phases of Disks, Massive Stars |