Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter ISM

Friday, 15 September 2023, 16:35   (H 3006)

Feedback and SFE in High Mass Star-Forming Regions - Confronting Simulations and Observations

B. Zimmermann, S. Walch, P. Schilke
Universität zu Köln

Star formation, and in particular high-mass star formation, determines the evolution of galaxies. Due to their energetic feedback ((ionzing) radiation, stellar winds, and supernovae), high-mass stars are believed to drive the galactic baryon cycle. However, the feedback from these stars will only affect their environment on parsec scales or beyond, once they have dispersed their parental molecular cloud core. Massive stars are born in massive cores with high surface densities such as infrared dark clouds. Hence, the stars are initially deeply embedded, causing a delay between the birth of a massive star and the time from which on it is blowing a larger-scale bubble. In this initial phase, radiative feedback and radiation pressure on gas and dust is particularly important. We investigate the formation and initial evolution of massive stars and their host cores up to the point where (ultra-)compact HII regions are established. We perform simulations of the gravitational collapse of isolated, parsec-scale, turbulent cores with the (magneto-)hydrodynamic code FLASH. We include a novel scheme to treat the radiation pressure on dust and gas as well as ionizing radiation. The hydrogen chemistry is followed as well such that the properties of the emerging ultra-compact HII regions are calculated self-consistently. We perform a parameter study, which forms a statistically relevant samples to investigate high-mass star formation and outline its relevance in the context of a rigorous comparison between simulations and observations.