Binary Star and Brown Dwarf Formation

Carnegie Institution Of Washington, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT Boss, Alan "Binary Star & Brown Dwarf Formation" AST-9983530 This project will investigate the formation of binary and brown dwarf stars. In recent years searches for substellar objects and planetary companions to nearby stars have been spectacularly successful. There is now a strong need to provide a theoretical understanding of how such a diverse range of bodies can all be created in the stellar birth process. Theoretical models for this process will be developed that are based upon 3-dimensional finite-difference solutions of the equations of radiative hydrodynamics for self-gravitating interstellar clouds of gas and dust. These models will include the complicating effects of turbulence and magnetic fields. The code will be used to predict which types of molecular cloud cores undergo collapse and fragment into binary and higher order protostellar systems, and to determine the minimum mass of such fragments. Funding for this project was provided by the NSF program for Stellar Astronomy & Astrophysics (AST/SAA).