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The streaming instability is a mechanism whereby pebble-sized particles in protoplanetary discs spontaneously come together in dense filaments, which collapse gravitationally to form planetesimals upon reaching the Roche density. The extent of the filaments along the orbital direction is nevertheless poorly characterised, due to a focus in the literature on small simulation domains where the behaviour of the streaming instability on large scales cannot be determined. We present here computer simulations of the streaming instability in boxes with side lengths up to 6.4 scale heights in the plane. This is 32 times larger than typically considered simulation domains and nearly a factor 1,000 times the volume. We show that the azimuthal extent of filaments in the non-linear state of the streaming instability is limited to approximately one gas scale height. The streaming instability will therefore not transform the pebble density field into axisymmetric rings; rather the non-linear state of the streaming instability appears as a complex structure of loosely connected filaments. Including the self-gravity of the pebbles, our simulations form up to 4,000 planetesimals. This allows us to probe the high-mass end of the initial mass function of planetesimals with much higher statistical confidence than previously. We find that this end is well-described by a steep exponential tapering. Since the resolution of our simulations is moderate -- a necessary trade-off given the large domains -- the mass distribution is incomplete at the low-mass end. When putting comparatively less weight on the numbers at low masses, at intermediate masses we nevertheless reproduce the power-law shape of the distribution established in previous studies., Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in A&A

Context. Simulating solar flares, which involve large-scale dynamics and small-scale magnetic reconnection, poses significant computational challenges. Aims. This study aims to develop an explicit Particle-In-Cell (PIC) solver within the DISPATCH framework to model the small-scale kinetic processes in solar corona setting. This study in the first in a series with the ultimate goal to develop a hybrid PIC-MHD solver, to simulate solar flares. Methods. The PIC solver, inspired by the PhotonPlasma code, solves the Vlasov-Maxwell equations in a collisionless regime using explicit time-staggering and spatial-staggering techniques. Validation included unit tests, plasma frequency recovery, two-stream instability, and current sheet dynamics. Results. Validation tests confirmed the solver's accuracy and robustness in modeling plasma dynamics and electromagnetic fields. Conclusions. The integration of the explicit PIC solver into the DISPATCH framework is the first step towards bridging the gap between large and small scale dynamics, providing a robust platform for future solar physics research., Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures

Computation of a grid of self consistent 1D model atmospheres of cool stars, sub-stellar objects and exoplanets in the effective temperature range 300K to 3000K, including cloud formation, chemical non-equilibrium effects, and stellar irradiation. The models are called MSG, because they are based on an iterative coupling between three well tested codes, the MARCS stellar atmosphere code, the StaticWeather cloud formation code and the GGchem chemical equilibrium code. It includes up-to-date molecular and atomic opacities, cloud formation and advanced chemical equilibrium calculations, and involves new numerical methods at low temperatures to allow robust convergence. The coupling between the MARCS radiative transfer and GGchem chemical equilibrium computations has made it possibly effectively to reach convergence based on electron pressure for the warmer models and gas pressure for the cooler models, enabling self-consistent modelling of stellar, sub-stellar and exoplanetary objects in a very wide range of effective temperatures. Here we describe the basic details of the models, with illustrative examples of cloudy and irradiated models as well as models based on non-equilibrium chemistry. The qualitative changes in the relative abundances of TiO, H2O, CH4, NH3, and other molecules in our models follow the observationally defined M, L, T (and Y) sequences, but reveal more complex and depth dependent abundance changes, and therefore a spectral classification depending on more parameters. The self consistent coupling to Static-Weather cloud computations, allows detailed comparison between nucleation and observed relative dimming of different spectral bands, with advanced applications for new identification methods of potential exoplanetary biology.

Context. While Class II stars have already accreted most of their mass, the continued inflow of fresh material via Bondi-Hoyle accretion acts as an additional mass reservoir for their circumstellar disks. This may explain the observed accretion rates of pre-main- sequence (PMS) stars, as well as observational inconsistencies in the mass and angular momentum balance of their disks. Aims. Using a new simulation that reproduces the stellar IMF, we want to quantify the role of Bondi-Hoyle accretion in the formation of Class II disks, as well address the prospect of its observational detection with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Methods. We study the mass and angular momentum of the accreting gas using passively-advected tracer particles in the simulation, and we carry out radiative transfer calculations of near-infrared scattering to generate synthetic JWST observations of Bondi-Hoyle trails of PMS stars. Results. Gas accreting on Class II PMS stars approximately 1 Myr after their formation has enough mass and angular momentum to strongly affect the evolution of the preexisting disks. The accreted angular momentum is large enough to also explain the observed size of Class II disks. The orientation of the angular momentum vector can differ significantly from that of the previously accreted gas, which may result in a significant disk warping or misalignment. We also predict that JWST observations of Class II stars will be able to detect Bondi-Hoyle trails with a 90% success rate with only 2 min exposure time, if stars with accretion rates \dot{M} > 5e-10 Msol/yr and luminosity of L > 0.5 Lsol are selected., Comment: 12 pages, 16 figures, submitted to A&A

Large-scale stellar surveys, such as SDSS-V, 4MOST, WEAVE, and PLATO, require accurate atmospheric models and synthetic spectra of stars for accurate analyses of fundamental stellar parameters and chemical abundances. The primary goal of our work is to develop a new approach to solve radiation-hydrodynamics (RHD) and generate model stellar spectra in a self-consistent and highly efficient framework. We build upon the Copenhagen legacy RHD code, the MULTI3D non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) code, and the DISPATCH high-performance framework. The new approach allows us to calculate 3D RHD models of stellar atmospheres on timescales of a few thousand CPU hours and to perform subsequent spectrum synthesis in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) or NLTE for the desired physical conditions within the parameter space of FGK-type stars. We compare the 3D RHD solar model with other available models and validate its performance against solar observations, including the centre-to-limb variation of intensities and key solar diagnostic lines of H and Fe. We show that the performance of the new code allows to overcome the main bottleneck in 3D NLTE spectroscopy and enables calculations of multi-dimensional grids of synthetic stellar observables for comparison with modern astronomical observations., Comment: Accepted by A&A. 20 pages, 16 figures

We describe the Stagger Code for simulations of magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) systems. This is a modular code with a variety of physics modules that will let the user run simulations of deep stellar atmospheres, sunspot formation, stellar chromospheres and coronae, proto-stellar disks, star formation from giant molecular clouds and even galaxy formation. The Stagger Code is efficiently and highly parallelizable, enabling such simulations with large ranges of both spatial and temporal scales. We, describe the methodology of the code, and present the most important of the physics modules, as well as its input and output variables. We show results of a number of standard MHD tests to enable comparison with other, similar codes. In addition, we provide an overview of tests that have been carried out against solar observations, ranging from spectral line shapes, spectral flux distribution, limb darkening, intensity and velocity distributions of granulation, to seismic power-spectra and the excitation of p modes. The Stagger Code has proven to be a high fidelity code with a large range of uses., Comment: accepted for the Astrophysical Journal

Characterizing prestellar cores in star-forming regions is an important step towards the validation of theoretical models of star formation. Thanks to their sub-arcsecond resolution, ALMA observations can potentially provide samples of prestellar cores up to distances of a few kpc, where regions of massive star formation can be targeted. However, the extraction of real cores from dust-continuum observations of turbulent star-forming clouds is affected by complex projection effects. In this work, we study the problem of core extraction both in the idealized case of column-density maps and in the more realistic case of synthetic 1.3\,mm ALMA observations. The analysis is carried out on 12 regions of high column density from our 250 pc simulation. We find that derived core masses are highly unreliable, with only {\em a weak correlation between the masses of cores selected in the synthetic ALMA maps and those of the corresponding three-dimensional cores}. The fraction of real three-dimensional cores detected in the synthetic maps increases monotonically with mass and remains always below 50\%. Above $\sim 1\,M_{\odot}$, the core mass function derived from the column-density maps is steeper than that of the three-dimensional cores, while the core mass function from the synthetic ALMA maps has a slope closer to that of the real three-dimensional cores. Because of the mass uncertainties, proper guidance from realistic simulations is essential if ALMA observations of protoclusters at kpc distances are to be used to test star-formation models., Comment: 20 pages, 21 figures, MNRAS, in press

Solar modelling has long been split into ''internal'' and ''surface'' modelling, because of the lack of tools to connect the very different scales in space and time, as well as the widely different environments and dominating physical effects involved. Significant efforts have recently been put into resolving this disconnect. We address the outstanding bottlenecks in connecting internal convection zone and dynamo simulations to the surface of the Sun, and conduct a proof-of-concept high resolution global simulation of the convection zone of the Sun, using the task-based DISPATCH code framework. We present a new `volleyball' mesh decomposition, which has Cartesian patches tessellated on a sphere with no singularities. We use our new entropy based HLLS approximate Riemann solver to model magneto-hydrodynamics in a global simulation, ranging between 0.655 -- 0.995 R$_\odot$, with an initial ambient magnetic field set to 0.1 Gauss. The simulations develop convective motions with complex, turbulent structures. Small-scale dynamo action twists the ambient magnetic field and locally amplifies magnetic field magnitudes by more than two orders of magnitude within the initial run-time., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, submitted to A&A. Movies available online

The dynamical state of massive clumps is key to our understanding of the formation of massive stars. In this work, we study the kinematic properties of massive clumps using synthetic observations. We have previously compiled a very large catalog of synthetic dust-continuum compact sources from our 250 pc, SN-driven, star formation simulation. Here, we compute synthetic $\rm N_{2}H^{+}$ line profiles for a subsample of those sources and compare their properties with the observations and with those of the corresponding three-dimensional (3D) clumps in the simulation. We find that the velocity dispersion of the sources estimated from the $\rm N_{2}H^{+}$ line is a good estimate of that of the 3D clumps, although its correlation with the source size is weaker than the velocity-size correlation of the 3D clumps. The relation between the mass of the 3D clumps, $M_{\rm main}$, and that of the corresponding synthetic sources, $M_{\rm SED}$, has a large scatter and a slope of 0.5, $M_{\rm main} \propto M_{\rm SED}^{0.5}$, due to uncertainties arising from the observational band-merging procedure and from projection effects along the line of sight. As a result, the virial parameters of the 3D clumps are not correlated with the clump masses, even if a negative correlation is found for the compact sources, and the virial parameter of the most massive sources may significantly underestimate that of the associated clumps., Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Systematic surveys of massive clumps have been carried out to study the conditions leading to the formation of massive stars. These clumps are typically at large distances and unresolved, so their physical properties cannot be reliably derived from the observations alone. Numerical simulations are needed to interpret the observations. To this end, we generate synthetic Herschel observations using our large-scale star-formation simulation, where massive stars explode as supernovae driving the interstellar-medium turbulence. From the synthetic observations, we compile a catalog of compact sources following the exact same procedure as for the Hi-GAL compact source catalog. We show that the sources from the simulation have observational properties with statistical distributions consistent with the observations. By relating the compact sources from the synthetic observations to their three-dimensional counterparts in the simulation, we find that the synthetic observations overestimate the clump masses by about an order of magnitude on average due to line-of-sight projection, and projection effects are likely to be even worse for Hi-GAL Inner Galaxy sources. We also find that a large fraction of sources classified as protostellar are likely to be starless, and propose a new method to partially discriminate between true and false protostellar sources., Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, submitted to MNRAS

Pebbles of millimeter sizes are abundant in protoplanetary discs around young stars. Chondrules inside primitive meteorites - formed by melting of dust aggregate pebbles or in impacts between planetesimals - have similar sizes. The role of pebble accretion for terrestrial planet formation is nevertheless unclear. Here we present a model where inwards-drifting pebbles feed the growth of terrestrial planets. The masses and orbits of Venus, Earth, Theia (which later collided with the Earth to form the Moon) and Mars are all consistent with pebble accretion onto protoplanets that formed around Mars' orbit and migrated to their final positions while growing. The isotopic compositions of Earth and Mars are matched qualitatively by accretion of two generations of pebbles, carrying distinct isotopic signatures. Finally, we show that the water and carbon budget of Earth can be delivered by pebbles from the early generation before the gas envelope became hot enough to vaporise volatiles., Comment: Science Advances, in press

We analyse the size evolution of pebbles accreted into the gaseous envelope of a protoplanet growing in a protoplanetary disc, taking into account collisions driven by the relative sedimentation speed as well as the convective gas motion. Using a simple estimate of the convective gas speed based on the pebble accretion luminosity, we find that the speed of the convective gas is higher than the sedimentation speed for all particles smaller than 1 mm. This implies that both pebbles and pebble fragments are strongly affected by the convective gas motion and will be transported by large-scale convection cells both towards and away from the protoplanet's surface. We present a simple scheme for evolving the characteristic size of the pebbles, taking into account the effects of erosion, mass transfer and fragmentation. Including the downwards motion of convective cells for the transport of pebbles with an initial radius of 1 millimeter, we find pebble sizes between 100 microns and 1 millimeter near the surface of the protoplanet. These sizes are generally amenable to accretion at the base of the convection flow. Small protoplanets far from the star (>30 AU) nevertheless erode their pebbles to sizes below 10 microns; future hydrodynamical simulations will be needed to determine whether such small fragments can detach from the convection flow and become accreted by the protoplanet., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

While the importance of supernova feedback in galaxies is well established, its role on the scale of molecular clouds is still debated. In this work, we focus on the impact of supernovae on individual clouds, using a high-resolution magneto-hydrodynamic simulation of a region of 250 pc where we resolve the formation of individual massive stars. The supernova feedback is implemented with real supernovae that are the natural evolution of the resolved massive stars, so their position and timing are self-consistent. We select a large sample of molecular clouds from the simulation to investigate the supernova energy injection and the resulting properties of molecular clouds. We find that molecular clouds have a lifetime of a few dynamical times, less then half of them contract to the point of becoming gravitationally bound, and the dispersal time of bound clouds, of order one dynamical time, is a factor of two shorter than that of unbound clouds. We stress the importance of internal supernovae, that is massive stars that explode inside their parent cloud, in setting the cloud dispersal time, and their huge overdensity compared to models where the supernovae are randomly distributed. We also quantify the energy injection efficiency of supernovae as a function of supernova distance to the clouds. We conclude that intermittent driving by supernovae can maintain molecular-cloud turbulence and may be the main process of cloud dispersal. The role of supernovae in the evolution of molecular clouds cannot be fully accounted for without a self-consistent implementation of their feedback., Comment: 33 pages, 23 figures, submitted to ApJ

The structure of molecular clouds (MCs) holds important clues on the physical processes that lead to their formation and subsequent evolution. While it is well established that turbulence imprints a self-similar structure to the clouds, other processes, such as gravity and stellar feedback, can break their scale-free nature. The break of self-similarity can manifest itself in the existence of characteristic scales that stand out from the underlying structure generated by turbulent motions. We investigate the structure of the Cygnus-X North and the Polaris MCs which represent two extremes in terms of their star formation activity. We characterize the structure of the clouds using the delta-variance ($\Delta$-variance) spectrum. In Polaris, the structure of the cloud is self-similar over more than one order of magnitude in spatial scales. In contrast, the $\Delta$-variance spectrum of Cygnus-X exhibits an excess and a plateau on physical scales of ~0.5-1.2 pc. In order to explain the observations for Cygnus-X, we use synthetic maps in which we overlay populations of discrete structures on top of a fractal Brownian motion (fBm) image. The properties of these structures such as their major axis sizes, aspect ratios, and column density contrasts are randomly drawn from parameterized distribution functions. We show that it is possible to reproduce a $\Delta$-variance spectrum that resembles the one of the Cygnus-X cloud. We also use a "reverse engineering" approach in which we extract the compact structures in the Cygnus-X cloud and re-inject them on an fBm map. The calculated $\Delta$-variance using this approach deviates from the observations and is an indication that the range of characteristic scales observed in Cygnus-X is not only due to the existence of compact sources, but is a signature of the whole population of structures, including more extended and elongated structures, Comment: Accepted to A&A. Version after language and other minor corrections

We address the problem of the origin of massive stars, namely the origin, path and timescale of the mass flows that create them. Based on extensive numerical simulations, we propose a scenario where massive stars are assembled by large-scale, converging, inertial flows that naturally occur in supersonic turbulence. We refer to this scenario of massive-star formation as the "Inertial-Inflow Model". This model stems directly from the idea that the mass distribution of stars is primarily the result of turbulent fragmentation. Under this hypothesis, the statistical properties of the turbulence determine the formation timescale and mass of prestellar cores, posing definite constraints on the formation mechanism of massive stars. We quantify such constraints by the analysis of a simulation of supernova-driven turbulence in a 250-pc region of the interstellar medium, describing the formation of hundreds of massive stars over a time of approximately 30 Myr. Due to the large size of our statistical sample, we can say with full confidence that massive stars in general do not form from the collapse of massive cores, nor from competitive accretion, as both models are incompatible with the numerical results. We also compute synthetic continuum observables in Herschel and ALMA bands. We find that, depending on the distance of the observed regions, estimates of core mass based on commonly-used methods may exceed the actual core masses by up to two orders of magnitude, and that there is essentially no correlation between estimated and real core masses., Comment: 35 pages, 30 figures, ApJ in press

We study density fluctuations in supersonic turbulence using both theoretical methods and numerical simulations. A theoretical formulation is developed for the probability distribution function (PDF) of the density at steady state, connecting it to the conditional statistics of the velocity divergence. Two sets of numerical simulations are carried out, using either a Riemann solver to evolve the Euler equations or a finite-difference method to evolve the Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations. After confirming the validity of our theoretical formulation with the N-S simulations, we examine the effects of dynamical processes on the PDF, showing that the nonlinear term in the divergence equation amplifies the right tail of the PDF and reduces the left one, the pressure term reduces both the right and left tails, and the viscosity term, counter-intuitively, broadens the right tail of the PDF. Despite the inaccuracy of the velocity divergence from the Riemann runs, as found in our previous work, we show that the density PDF from the Riemann runs is consistent with that from the N-S runs. Taking advantage of their much higher effective resolution, we then use the Riemann runs to study the dependence of the PDF on the Mach number, $\mathcal{M}$, up to $\mathcal{M}\sim30$. The PDF width, $\sigma_{s}$, follows the relation $\sigma_{s}^2 = \ln (1+b^2 {\mathcal M}^2)$, with $b\approx0.38$. However, the PDF exhibits a negative skewness that increases with increasing $\mathcal{M}$, so much of the growth of $\sigma_{s}$ is accounted for by the growth of the left PDF tail, while the growth of the right tail tends to saturate. Thus, the usual prescription that combines a lognormal shape with the standard variance-Mach number relation greatly overestimates the right PDF tail at large $\mathcal{M}$, which may have a significant impact on theoretical models of star formation., Comment: Submitted to ApJ

We examine the accuracy of spatial derivatives computed from numerical simulations of supersonic turbulence. Two sets of simulations, carried out using a finite-volume code that evolves the hydrodynamic equations with an approximate Riemann solver and a finite-difference code that solves the Navier-Stokes equations, are tested against a number of criteria based on the continuity equation, including exact results at statistically steady state. We find that the spatial derivatives in the Navier-Stokes runs are accurate and satisfy all the criteria. In particular, they satisfy our exact results that the conditional mean velocity divergence, $\langle \nabla \cdot {\bs u}|s\rangle$, where $s$ is the logarithm of density, and the conditional mean of the advection of $s$, $\langle {\bs u} \cdot \nabla s|s\rangle$, vanish at steady state for all density values, $s$. On the other hand, the Riemann solver simulations fail all the tests that require accurate evaluation of spatial derivatives, resulting in apparent violation of the continuity equation, even if the solver enforces mass conservation. In particular, analysis of the Riemann simulations may lead to the incorrect conclusion that the $\pdv$ work tends to preferentially convert kinetic energy into thermal energy, inconsistent with the exact result that the energy exchange by $\pdv$ work is symmetric in barotropic supersonic turbulence at steady state. The inaccuracy of spatial derivatives is a general problem in the post-processing of simulations of supersonic turbulence with Riemann solvers. Solutions from such simulations must be used with caution in post-processing studies concerning the spatial gradients., Comment: Submitted to ApJ

We investigate the effects of radiative energy transfer on a series of nested-grid, high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of gas and particle dynamics in the vicinity of an Earth-mass planetary embryo. We include heating due to the accretion of solids and the subsequent convective motions. Using a constant embryo surface temperature, we show that radiative energy transport results in a tendency to reduce the entropy in the primordial atmosphere, but this tendency is alleviated by an increase in the strength of convective energy transport, triggered by a correspondingly increased super-adiabatic temperature gradient. As a consequence, the amplitude of the convective motions increase by roughly an order of magnitude in the vicinity of the embryo. In the cases investigated here, where the optical depth towards the disk surface is larger than unity, the reduction of the temperature in the outer parts of the Hill sphere relative to cases without radiative energy transport is only $\sim$100K, while the mass density increase is on the order of a factor of two in the inner parts of the Hill sphere. Our results demonstrate that, unless unrealistically low dust opacities are assumed, radiative cooling in the context of primordial rocky planet atmospheres can only become important after the disk surface density has dropped significantly below minimum-mass-solar-nebula values., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2 appendices; MNRAS Letters, accepted

The probabilistic approach to turbulence is applied to investigate density fluctuations in supersonic turbulence. We derive kinetic equations for the probability distribution function (PDF) of the logarithm of the density field, $s$, in compressible turbulence in two forms: a first-order partial differential equation involving the average divergence conditioned on the flow density, $\langle \nabla \cdot {\bs u} | s\rangle$, and a Fokker-Planck equation with the drift and diffusion coefficients equal to $-\langle {\bs u} \cdot \nabla s | s\rangle$ and $\langle {\bs u} \cdot \nabla s | s\rangle$, respectively. Assuming statistical homogeneity only, the detailed balance at steady state leads to two exact results, $\langle \nabla \cdot {\bs u} | s \rangle =0$, and $\langle {\bs u} \cdot \nabla s | s\rangle=0$. The former indicates a balance of the flow divergence over all expanding and contracting regions at each given density. The exact results provide an objective criterion to judge the accuracy of numerical codes with respect to the density statistics in supersonic turbulence. We also present a method to estimate the effective numerical diffusion as a function of the flow density and discuss its effects on the shape of the density PDF., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL

We present an abundance analysis of the low-metallicity benchmark red giant star HD 122563 based on realistic, state-of-the-art, high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) model stellar atmospheres including non-grey radiative transfer through opacity binning with four, twelve, and 48 bins. The 48-bin 3D simulation reaches temperatures lower by ~ 300 - 500 K than the corresponding 1D model in the upper atmosphere. Small variations in the opacity binning, adopted line opacities, or chemical mixture can cool the photospheric layers by a further ~ 100 - 300 K and alter the effective temperature by ~ 100 K. A 3D local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) spectroscopic analysis of Fe I and Fe II lines gives discrepant results in terms of derived Fe abundance, which we ascribe to non-LTE effects and systematic errors on the stellar parameters. We also determine C, N, and O abundances by simultaneously fitting CH, OH, NH, and CN molecular bands and lines in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared. We find a small positive 3D-1D abundance correction for carbon (+0.03 dex) and negative ones for nitrogen (-0.07 dex) and oxygen (-0.34 dex). From the analysis of the [O I] line at 6300.3 {\AA}, we derive a significantly higher oxygen abundance than from molecular lines (+0.46 dex in 3D and +0.15 dex in 1D). We rule out important OH photodissociation effects as possible explanation for the discrepancy and note that lowering the surface gravity would reduce the oxygen abundance difference between molecular and atomic indicators., Comment: Accepted for publication on Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Stars and their corresponding protoplanetary disks form in diverse environments. To account for these natural variations, we investigate the formation process around nine solar mass stars with a maximum resolution of 2 AU in a Giant Molecular Cloud of (40 pc)$^3$ in volume by using the adaptive mesh refinement code \ramses. The magnetohydrodynamic simulations reveal that the accretion process is heterogeneous in time, in space, and among protostars of otherwise similar mass. During the first roughly 100 kyr of a protostar evolving to about a solar mass, the accretion rates peak around $10^{-5}$ to $10^{-4}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ shortly after its birth, declining with time after that. The different environments also affect the spatial accretion, and infall of material to the star-disk system is mostly through filaments and sheets. Furthermore, the formation and evolution of disks varies significantly from star to star. We interpret the variety in disk formation as a consequence of the differences in the combined effects of magnetic fields and turbulence that may cause differences in the efficiency of magnetic braking, as well as differences in the strength and distribution of specific angular momentum., Comment: Contribution to conference proceedings of "Star Formation in Different Environments" (SFDE) in Quy-Nhon, Vietnam 2016. 4 pages, 3 figures

The most abundant components of primitive meteorites (chondrites) are millimeter-sized glassy spherical chondrules formed by transient melting events in the solar protoplanetary disk. Using Pb-Pb dates of 22 individual chondrules, we show that primary production of chondrules in the early solar system was restricted to the first million years after formation of the Sun and that these existing chondrules were recycled for the remaining lifetime of the protoplanetary disk. This is consistent with a primary chondrule formation episode during the early high-mass accretion phase of the protoplanetary disk that transitions into a longer period of chondrule reworking. An abundance of chondrules at early times provides the precursor material required to drive the efficient and rapid formation of planetary objects via chondrule accretion., Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

We compute the star formation rate (SFR) in molecular clouds (MCs) that originate {\it ab initio} in a new, higher-resolution simulation of supernova-driven turbulence. Because of the large number of well-resolved clouds with self-consistent boundary and initial conditions, we obtain a large range of cloud physical parameters with realistic statistical distributions, an unprecedented sample of star-forming regions to test SFR models and to interpret observational surveys. We confirm the dependence of the SFR per free-fall time, $SFR_{\rm ff}$, on the virial parameter, $\alpha_{\rm vir}$, found in previous simulations, and compare a revised version of our turbulent fragmentation model with the numerical results. The dependences on Mach number, ${\cal M}$, gas to magnetic pressure ratio, $\beta$, and compressive to solenoidal power ratio, $\chi$ at fixed $\alpha_{\rm vir}$ are not well constrained, because of random scatter due to time and cloud-to-cloud variations in $SFR_{\rm ff}$. We find that $SFR_{\rm ff}$ in MCs can take any value in the range $0 \le SFR_{\rm ff} \lesssim 0.2$, and its probability distribution peaks at a value $SFR_{\rm ff}\approx 0.025$, consistent with observations. The values of $SFR_{\rm ff}$ and the scatter in the $SFR_{\rm ff}$--$\alpha_{\rm vir}$ relation are consistent with recent measurements in nearby MCs and in clouds near the Galactic center. Although not explicitly modeled by the theory, the scatter is consistent with the physical assumptions of our revised model and may also result in part from a lack of statistical equilibrium of the turbulence, due to the transient nature of MCs., Comment: ApJ, in press

We investigate the formation of protoplanetary disks around nine solar mass stars formed in the context of a (40 pc)$^3$ Giant Molecular Cloud model, using RAMSES adaptive-mesh refinement simulations extending over a scale range of about 4 million, from an outer scale of 40 pc down to cell sizes of 2 AU. Our most important result is that the accretion process is heterogeneous in multiple ways; in time, in space, and among protostars of otherwise similar mass. Accretion is heterogeneous in time, in the sense that accretion rates vary during the evolution, with generally decreasing profiles, whose slopes vary over a wide range, and where accretion can increase again if a protostar enters a region with increased density and low speed. Accretion is heterogeneous in space, because of the mass distribution, with mass approaching the accreting star-disk system in filaments and sheets. Finally, accretion is heterogeneous among stars, since the detailed conditions and dynamics in the neighborhood of each star can vary widely. We also investigate the sensitivity of disk formation to physical conditions, and test their robustness by varying numerical parameters. We find that disk formation is robust even when choosing the least favorable sink particle parameters, and that turbulence cascading from larger scales is a decisive factor in disk formation. We also investigate the transport of angular momentum, finding that the net inward mechanical transport is compensated for mainly by an outward directed magnetic transport, with a contribution from gravitational torques usually subordinate to the magnetic transport., Comment: 21 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We study the interaction of relativistic jets with their environment, using 3-dimensional relativistic particle-in-cell simulations for two cases of jet composition: (i) electron-proton ($e^{-}-p^{+}$) and (ii) electron-positron ($e^{\pm}$) plasmas containing helical magnetic fields. We have performed simulations of "global" jets containing helical magnetic fields in order to examine how helical magnetic fields affect kinetic instabilities such as the Weibel instability, the kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and the Mushroom instability. We have found that these kinetic instabilities are suppressed and new types of instabilities can grow. For the $e^{-}-p^{+}$ jet, a recollimation-like instability occurs and jet electrons are strongly perturbed, whereas for the $e^{\pm}$ jet, a recollimation-like instability occurs at early times followed by kinetic instability and the general structure is similar to a simulation without a helical magnetic field. We plan to perform further simulations using much larger systems to confirm these new findings., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, New Frontiers in Black Hole Astrophysics, Proceedings of the IAU Symposium No. 324, A. Gomboc, ed

We present a comparison of molecular clouds (MCs) from a simulation of supernova-driven interstellar medium (ISM) turbulence with real MCs from the Outer Galaxy Survey. The radiative transfer calculations to compute synthetic CO spectra are carried out assuming the CO relative abundance depends only on gas density, according to four different models. Synthetic MCs are selected above a threshold brightness temperature value, $T_{\rm B,min}=1.4$ K, of the $J=1-0$ $^{12}$CO line, generating 16 synthetic catalogs (four different spatial resolutions and four CO abundance models), each containing up to several thousands MCs. The comparison with the observations focuses on the mass and size distributions and on the velocity-size and mass-size Larson relations. The mass and size distributions are found to be consistent with the observations, with no significant variations with spatial resolution or chemical model, except in the case of the unrealistic model with constant CO abundance. The velocity-size relation is slightly too steep for some of the models, while the mass-size relation is a bit too shallow for all models only at a spatial resolution $dx\approx 1$ pc. The normalizations of the Larson relations show a clear dependence on spatial resolution, for both the synthetic and the real MCs. The comparison of the velocity-size normalization suggests that the SN rate in the Perseus arm is approximately 70\% or less of the rate adopted in the simulation. Overall, the realistic properties of the synthetic clouds confirm that supernova-driven turbulence can explain the origin and dynamics of MCs., Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ

Turbulence is ubiquitous in molecular clouds (MCs), but its origin is still unclear because MCs are usually assumed to live longer than the turbulence dissipation time. Interstellar medium (ISM) turbulence is likely driven by SN explosions, but it has never been demonstrated that SN explosions can establish and maintain a turbulent cascade inside MCs consistent with the observations. In this work, we carry out a simulation of SN-driven turbulence in a volume of (250 pc)$^3$, specifically designed to test if SN driving alone can be responsible for the observed turbulence inside MCs. We find that SN driving establishes a velocity scaling consistent with the usual scaling laws of supersonic turbulence, suggesting that previous idealized simulations of MC turbulence, driven with a random, large-scale volume force, were correctly adopted as appropriate models for MC turbulence, despite the artificial driving. We also find that the same scaling laws extend to the interior of MCs, and that the velocity-size relation of the MCs selected from our simulation is consistent with that of MCs from the Outer-Galaxy Survey, the largest MC sample available. The mass-size relation and the mass and size probability distributions also compare successfully with those of the Outer Galaxy Survey. Finally, we show that MC turbulence is super-Alfv\'{e}nic with respect to both the mean and rms magnetic-field strength. We conclude that MC structure and dynamics are the natural result of SN-driven turbulence., Comment: ApJ, in press

We perform a calibration of the mixing length of convection in stellar structure models against realistic 3D radiation-coupled hydrodynamics (RHD) simulations of convection in stellar surface layers, determining the adiabat deep in convective stellar envelopes. The mixing-length parameter $\alpha$ is calibrated by matching averages of the 3D simulations to 1D stellar envelope models, ensuring identical atomic physics in the two cases. This is done for a previously published grid of solar-metallicity convection simulations, covering from 4200 K to 6900 K on the main sequence, and 4300-5000 K for giants with logg=2.2. Our calibration results in an $\alpha$ varying from 1.6 for the warmest dwarf, which is just cool enough to admit a convective envelope, and up to 2.05 for the coolest dwarfs in our grid. In between these is a triangular plateau of $\alpha$ ~ 1.76. The Sun is located on this plateau and has seen little change during its evolution so far. When stars ascend the giant branch, they largely do so along tracks of constant $\alpha$, with $\alpha$ decreasing with increasing mass., Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We investigate the role of mass infall in the formation and evolution of protostars. To avoid ad hoc initial and boundary conditions, we consider the infall resulting self-consistently from modeling the formation of stellar clusters in turbulent molecular clouds. We show that infall rates in turbulent clouds are comparable to accretion rates inferred from protostellar luminosities or measured in pre-main-sequence stars. They should not be neglected in modeling the luminosity of protostars and the evolution of disks, even after the embedded protostellar phase. We find large variations of infall rates from protostar to protostar, and large fluctuations during the evolution of individuals protostars. In most cases, the infall rate is initially of order 10$^{-5}$\msun\ yr$^{-1}$, and may either decay rapidly in the formation of low-mass stars, or remain relatively large when more massive stars are formed. The simulation reproduces well the observed characteristic values and scatter of protostellar luminosities and matches the observed protostellar luminosity function. The luminosity problem is therefore solved once realistic protostellar infall histories are accounted for, with no need for extreme accretion episodes. These results are based on a simulation of randomly-driven magneto-hydrodynamic turbulence on a scale of 4pc, including self-gravity, adaptive-mesh refinement to a resolution of 50AU, and accreting sink particles. The simulation yields a low star formation rate, consistent with the observations, and a mass distribution of sink particles consistent with the observed stellar initial mass function during the whole duration of the simulation, forming nearly 1,300 sink particles over 3.2 Myr., Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Relations between temperature, T, and optical depth, tau, are often used for describing the photospheric transition from optically thick to optically thin in stellar structure models. We show that this is well justified, but also that currently used T(tau) relations are often inconsistent with their implementation. As an outer boundary condition on the system of stellar structure equations, T(tau) relations have an undue effect on the overall structure of stars. In this age of precision asteroseismology, we need to re-assess both the method for computing and for implementing T(tau) relations, and the assumptions they rest on. We develop a formulation for proper and consistent evaluation of T(tau) relations from arbitrary 1D or 3D stellar atmospheres, and for their implementation in stellar structure and evolution models. We extract radiative T(tau) relations, as described by our new formulation, from 3D simulations of convection in deep stellar atmospheres of late-type stars from dwarfs to giants. These simulations employ realistic opacities and equation of state, and account for line-blanketing. For comparison, we also extract T(tau) relations from 1D MARCS model atmospheres using the same formulation. T(tau)-relations from our grid of 3D convection simulations display a larger range of behaviours with surface gravity, compared with those of conventional theoretical 1D hydrostatic atmosphere models. Based on this, we recommend no longer to use scaled solar T(tau) relations. Files with T(tau) relations for our grid of simulations are made available to the community, together with routines for interpolating in this irregular grid. We also provide matching tables of atmospheric opacity, for consistent implementation in stellar structure models., Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 2014

We review recent advances in the analytical and numerical modeling of the star formation rate in molecular clouds and discuss the available observational constraints. We focus on molecular clouds as the fundamental star formation sites, rather than on the larger-scale processes that form the clouds and set their properties. Molecular clouds are shaped into a complex filamentary structure by supersonic turbulence, with only a small fraction of the cloud mass channeled into collapsing protostars over a free-fall time of the system. In recent years, the physics of supersonic turbulence has been widely explored with computer simulations, leading to statistical models of this fragmentation process, and to the prediction of the star formation rate as a function of fundamental physical parameters of molecular clouds, such as the virial parameter, the rms Mach number, the compressive fraction of the turbulence driver, and the ratio of gas to magnetic pressure. Infrared space telescopes, as well as ground-based observatories have provided unprecedented probes of the filamentary structure of molecular clouds and the location of forming stars within them., Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication as a chapter in Protostars and Planets VI, University of Arizona Press (2014), eds. H. Beuther, R. S. Klessen, C. P. Dullemond, Th. Henning

Present grids of stellar atmosphere models are the workhorses in interpreting stellar observations, and determining their fundamental parameters. These models rely on greatly simplified models of convection, however, lending less predictive power to such models of late type stars. We present a grid of improved and more reliable stellar atmosphere models of late type stars, based on deep, 3D, convective, stellar atmosphere simulations. This grid is to be used in general for interpreting observations, and improve stellar and asteroseismic modeling. We solve the Navier Stokes equations in 3D and concurrent with the radiative transfer equation, for a range of atmospheric parameters, covering most of stellar evolution with convection at the surface. We emphasize use of the best available atomic physics for quantitative predictions and comparisons with observations. We present granulation size, convective expansion of the acoustic cavity, asymptotic adiabat, as function of atmospheric parameters. These and other results are also available in electronic form., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ, 2013

Magneto-convection can produce an active region without an initial coherent flux tube. A simulation was performed where uniform, untwisted, horizontal magnetic field of 1 kG strenght was advected into the bottom of a computational domain 48 Mm wide by 20 Mm deep. The up and down convective motions produce a hierarchy of magnetic loops with a wide range of scales, with smaller loops riding "piggy back" in a serpentine fashion on larger loops. When a large loop approaches the surface it produces an small active region with a compact leading spot and more diffuse following spots.

The emergence of minimally structured (uniform and horizontal) magnetic field from a depth of 20 Mm has been simulated. The field emerges first in a mixed polarity pepper and salt pattern, but then collects into separate, unipolar concentrations and produces pores. The field strength was then artificially increased to produce spot-like structures. The field strength at continuum optical depth unity peaks at 1 kG, with a maximum of 4 kG. Where the vertical field is strong, the spots persist (at present an hour of solar time has been simulated). Where the field is weak, the spot gets filled in and disappears. Stokes profiles have been calculated and processed with the Hinode annular mtf, the slit diffraction and frequency smoothing. These data are available at steinr.pa.msu.edu/~bob/stokes., Comment: Hinode 4 proceedings submitted

The explosive BN/KL outflow emerging from OMC1 behind the Orion Nebula may have been powered by the dynamical decay of a non-hierarchical multiple system $\sim$500 years ago that ejected the massive stars I, BN, and source n, with velocities of about 10 to 30 km s$^{-1}$. New proper motion measurements of H$_2$ features show that within the errors of measurement, the outflow originated from the site of stellar ejection. Combined with published data, these measurements indicate an outflow age of $\sim$500 years, similar to the time since stellar ejection. The total kinetic energy of the ejected stars and the outflow is about 2 to $6 \times 10^{47}$ ergs. It is proposed that the gravitational potential energy released by the formation of a short-period binary, most likely source I, resulted in stellar ejection and powered the outflow. A scenario is presented for the formation of a compact, non-hierarchical multiple star system, its decay into an ejected binary and two high-velocity stars, and launch of the outflow. Three mechanisms may have contributed to the explosion in the gas: (i) Unbinding of the circum-cluster envelope following stellar ejection, (ii) disruption of circumstellar disks and high-speed expulsion of the resulting debris during the final stellar encounter, and (iii) the release of stored magnetic energy. Plausible proto-stellar disk end envelope properties can produce the observed outflow mass, velocity, and kinetic energy distributions. The ejected stars may have acquired new disks by fall-back or Bondi-Hoyle accretion with axes roughly orthogonal to their velocities. The expulsion of gas and stars from OMC1 may have been driven by stellar interactions., Comment: 36 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables

S-type stars are late-type giants whose atmosphere is enriched in carbon and s-process elements because of either extrinsic pollution by a binary companion or intrinsic nucleosynthesis and dredge-up on the thermally-pulsing AGB. A large grid of S-star model atmospheres has been computed covering the range 2700 < Teff < 4000 K with 0.5 < C/O < 0.99. ZrO and TiO band strength indices as well as VJHKL photometry are needed to disentangle Teff, C/O and [s/Fe]. A "best-model finding tool" was developed using a set of well-chosen indices and checked against photometry as well as low- and high-resolution spectroscopy. It is found that applying M-star model atmospheres (i.e., with a solar C/O ratio) to S stars can lead to errors on Teff up to 400K. We constrain the parameter space occupied by S stars of the vast sample of Henize stars in terms of Teff, [C/O] and [s/Fe]., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, "Why Galaxies Care About AGB Stars II" Conference, Vienna Aug. 2010, to appear in ASP Conference Series

Recent measurements of the Zeeman effect in dark-cloud cores provide important tests for theories of cloud dynamics and prestellar core formation. In this Letter we report results of simulated Zeeman measurements, based on radiative transfer calculations through a snapshot of a simulation of supersonic and super-Alfv\'enic turbulence. We have previously shown that the same simulation yields a relative mass-to-flux ratio (core versus envelope) in agreement with the observations (and in contradiction with the ambipolar-drift model of core formation). Here we show that the mass-to-flux and turbulent-to-magnetic-energy ratios in the simulated cores agree with observed values as well. The mean magnetic field strength in the simulation is very low, \bar{B}=0.34 \muG, presumably lower than the mean field in molecular clouds. Nonetheless, high magnetic field values are found in dense cores, in agreement with the observations (the rms field, amplified by the turbulence, is B_{rms}=3.05 \muG). We conclude that a strong large-scale mean magnetic field is not required by Zeeman effect measurements to date, although it is not ruled out by this work., Comment: 7/24/09: 6 pages, 7 figures, accepted to ApJL. Minor additions to the previous version. 7/3/09: 5 pages, 7 figures, submitted to ApJL

We present synthetic OH Zeeman splitting measurements of a super-Alfvenic model of molecular clouds. We select dense cores from synthetic 13CO maps computed from the largest simulation to date of supersonic and super-Alfvenic turbulence. The synthetic Zeeman splitting measurements in the cores yield a relation between the magnetic field strength, B, and the column density, N, in good agreement with the observations. The large scatter in B at a fixed value of N is partly due to intrinsic variations in the magnetic field strength from core to core. We also compute the relative mass-to-flux ratio between the center of the cores and their envelopes, ${\cal R}_{\mu}$, and show that super-Alfvenic turbulence produces a significant scatter also in ${\cal R}_{\mu}$, including negative values (field reversal between core center and envelope). We find ${\cal R}_{\mu}<1$ for 70% of the cores, and ${\cal R}_{\mu}<0$ for 12%. Of the cores with $|B_{\rm LOS}|>10$ \muG, 81% have ${\cal R}_{\mu}<1$. These predictions of the super-Alfvenic model are in stark contrast to the ambipolar drift model of core formation, where only ${\cal R}_{\mu}>1$ is allowed., Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, submitted to ApJL. Minor corrections and additions, updated references

Recent progress in realistic simulations of solar convection have given us an unprecedented opportunity to evaluate the robustness of solar interior structures and dynamics obtained by methods of local helioseismology. We present results of testing the time-distance method using realistic simulations. By computing acoustic wave propagation time and distance relations for different depths of the simulated data, we confirm that acoustic waves propagate into the interior and then turn back to the photosphere. This demonstrates that in the numerical simulations properties of acoustic waves (p-modes) are similar to the solar conditions, and that these properties can be analyzed by the time-distance technique. For the surface gravity waves (f-mode), we calculate perturbations of their travel times, caused by localized downdrafts, and demonstrate that the spatial pattern of these perturbations (representing so-called sensitivity kernels) is similar to the patterns obtained from the real Sun, displaying characteristic hyperbolic structures. We then test the time-distance measurements and inversions by calculating acoustic travel times from a sequence of vertical velocities at the photosphere of the simulated data, and inferring a mean 3D flow fields by performing inversion based on the ray approximation. The inverted horizontal flow fields agree very well with the simulated data in subsurface areas up to 3 Mm deep, but differ in deeper areas. Due to the cross-talk effects between the horizontal divergence and downward flows, the inverted vertical velocities are significantly different from the mean convection velocities of the simulation dataset., Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication by ApJ

We have carried out a hydrodynamical code comparison study of interacting multiphase fluids. The two commonly used techniques of grid and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) show striking differences in their ability to model processes that are fundamentally important across many areas of astrophysics. Whilst Eulerian grid based methods are able to resolve and treat important dynamical instabilities, such as Kelvin-Helmholtz or Rayleigh-Taylor, these processes are poorly or not at all resolved by existing SPH techniques. We show that the reason for this is that SPH, at least in its standard implementation, introduces spurious pressure forces on particles in regions where there are steep density gradients. This results in a boundary gap of the size of the SPH smoothing kernel over which information is not transferred., Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, to be submitted to MNRAS. For high-resolution figures, please see http://www-theorie.physik.unizh.ch/~agertz/

We apply time-distance helioseismology, local correlation tracking and Fourier spatial-temporal filtering methods to realistic supergranule scale simulations of solar convection and compare the results with high-resolution observations from the SOHO Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI). Our objective is to investigate the surface and sub-surface convective structures and test helioseismic measurements. The size and grid of the computational domain are sufficient to resolve various convective scales from granulation to supergranulation. The spatial velocity spectrum is approximately a power law for scales larger than granules, with a continuous decrease in velocity amplitude with increasing size. Aside from granulation no special scales exist, although a small enhancement in power at supergranulation scales can be seen. We calculate the time-distance diagram for f- and p-modes and show that it is consistent with the SOHO/MDI observations. From the simulation data we calculate travel time maps for surface gravity waves (f-mode). We also apply correlation tracking to the simulated vertical velocity in the photosphere to calculate the corresponding horizontal flows. We compare both of these to the actual large-scale (filtered) simulation velocities. All three methods reveal similar large scale convective patterns and provide an initial test of time-distance methods., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures (.ps format); accepted to ApJ (tentatively scheduled to appear in March 10, 2007 n2 issue); included files ms.bbl, aabib.bst, aabib.sty, aastex.cls

The radiation from afterglows of gamma-ray bursts is generated in the collisionless plasma shock interface between a relativistic outflow and a quiescent circum-burst medium. The two main ingredients responsible for the radiation are high-energy, non-thermal electrons and a strong magnetic field. In this Letter we present, for the first time, synthetic spectra extracted directly from first principles particle-in-cell simulations of relativist collisionless plasma shocks. The spectra are generated by a numerical Fourier transformation of the electrical far-field from each of a large number of particles, sampled directly from the particle-in-cell simulations. Both the electromagnetic field and the non-thermal particle acceleration are self-consistent products of the Weibel two-stream instability. We find that the radiation spectrum from a $\Gamma=15$ shock simulation show great resemblance with observed GRB spectra -- we compare specifically with that of GRB000301C., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters

The origin of brown dwarfs (BDs) is an important component of the theory of star formation, because BDs are approximately as numerous as solar mass stars. It has been suggested that BDs originate from the gravitational fragmentation of protostellar disks, a very different mechanism from the formation of hydrogen burning stars. We propose that BDs are instead formed by the process of turbulent fragmentation, like more massive stars. In numerical simulations of turbulence and star formation we find that gravitationally unstable density peaks of BD mass are commonly formed by the turbulent flow. These density peaks collapse into BD mass objects with circumstellar disks, like more massive protostars. We rely on numerical experiments with very large resolution, achieved with adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). The turbulence simulation presented here is the first AMR turbulence experiment ever attempted and achieves an effective resolution of 1024^3 computational zones. The star formation simulation achieves an effective resolution of (10^6)^3 computational zones, from a cloud size of 5pc to protostellar disks resolved down to 1AU., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, contribution to the workshop "Low-mass stars and brown dwarfs: IMF, accretion and activity", Volterra, October 17 - 20, 2004

We propose to interpret the stellar IMF as a property of the turbulence in the star--forming gas. Gravitationally unstable density enhancements in the turbulent flow collapse and form stars. Their mass distribution can be derived analytically from the power spectrum of the turbulent flow and the isothermal shock jump conditions in the magnetized gas. For a power spectrum index \beta=1.74, consistent with Larson's velocity dispersion--size relation as well as with new numerical and analytic results on supersonic turbulence, we obtain a power law mass distribution of dense cores with a slope equal to 3/(4-\beta)=1.33, consistent with the slope of Salpeter's stellar IMF. Below one solar mass, the mass distribution flattens and turns around at a fraction of a solar mass, as observed for the stellar IMF in a number of stellar clusters, because only the densest cores are gravitationally unstable. The mass distribution at low masses is determined by the Log--Normal distribution of the gas density. The intermittent nature of this distribution is responsible for the generation of a significant number of collapsing cores of brown dwarf mass., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, Contribution to the conference "The IMF@50", Abbazia di Spineto, Tuscany, Italy -- May 16-20, 2004

Accretion rates of order 10^-8 M_\odot/yr are observed in young protostars of approximately a solar mass with evidence of circumstellar disks. The accretion rate is significantly lower for protostars of smaller mass, approximately proportional to the second power of the stellar mass, \dot{M}_accr\propto M^2. The traditional view is that the observed accretion is the consequence of the angular momentum transport in isolated protostellar disks, controlled by disk turbulence or self--gravity. However, these processes are not well understood and the observed protostellar accretion, a fundamental aspect of star formation, remains an unsolved problem. In this letter we propose the protostellar accretion rate is controlled by accretion from the large scale gas distribution in the parent cloud, not by the isolated disk evolution. Describing this process as Bondi--Hoyle accretion, we obtain accretion rates comparable to the observed ones. We also reproduce the observed dependence of the accretion rate on the protostellar mass. These results are based on realistic values of the ambient gas density and velocity, as inferred from numerical simulations of star formation in self--gravitating turbulent clouds., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, ApJ Letters, in press

We present the first center-to-limb G-band images synthesized from high resolution simulations of solar magneto-convection. Towards the limb the simulations show "hilly" granulation with dark bands on the far side, bright granulation walls and striated faculae, similar to observations. At disk center G-band bright points are flanked by dark lanes. The increased brightness in magnetic elements is due to their lower density compared with the surrounding intergranular medium. One thus sees deeper layers where the temperature is higher. At a given geometric height, the magnetic elements are cooler than the surrounding medium. In the G-band, the contrast is further increased by the destruction of CH in the low density magnetic elements. The optical depth unity surface is very corrugated. Bright granules have their continuum optical depth unity 80 km above the mean surface, the magnetic elements 200-300 km below. The horizontal temperature gradient is especially large next to flux concentrations. When viewed at an angle, the deep magnetic elements optical surface is hidden by the granules and the bright points are no longer visible, except where the "magnetic valleys" are aligned with the line of sight. Towards the limb, the low density in the strong magnetic elements causes unit line-of-sight optical depth to occur deeper in the granule walls behind than for rays not going through magnetic elements and variations in the field strength produce a striated appearance in the bright granule walls., Comment: To appear in ApJL. 6 pages 4 figures

The excitation of gravity waves by penetrative convective plumes is investigated using 2D direct simulations of compressible convection. The oscillation field is measured by a new technique based on the projection of our simulation data onto the theoretical g-modes solutions of the associated linear eigenvalue problem. This allows us to determine both the excited modes and their corresponding amplitudes accurately., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, proceeding of the Porto conference "Asteroseismology Across the HR Diagram", edited by M.J. Thompson, M.S Cunha & M.J.P.G. Monteiro, Kluwer Academic Publishers (also in Ap&SS, 284, 237)

We excite an epicyclic motion, whose amplitude depends on the vertical position, $z$, in a simulation of a turbulent accretion disc. An epicyclic motion of this kind may be caused by a warping of the disc. By studying how the epicyclic motion decays we can obtain information about the interaction between the warp and the disc turbulence. A high amplitude epicyclic motion decays first by exciting inertial waves through a parametric instability, but its subsequent exponential damping may be reproduced by a turbulent viscosity. We estimate the effective viscosity parameter, $\alpha_{\rm v}$, pertaining to such a vertical shear. We also gain new information on the properties of the disc turbulence in general, and measure the usual viscosity parameter, $\alpha_{\rm h}$, pertaining to a horizontal (Keplerian) shear. We find that, as is often assumed in theoretical studies, $\alpha_{\rm v}$ is approximately equal to $\alpha_{\rm h}$ and both are much less than unity, for the field strengths achieved in our local box calculations of turbulence. In view of the smallness ($\sim 0.01$) of $\alpha_{\rm v}$ and $\alpha_{\rm h}$ we conclude that for $\beta = p_{\rm gas}/p_{\rm mag} \sim 10$ the timescale for diffusion or damping of a warp is much shorter than the usual viscous timescale. Finally, we review the astrophysical implications., Comment: 12 pages, 18 figures, MNRAS accepted

We propose that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is universal in the sense that its functional form arises as a consequence of the statistics of random supersonic flows. A model is developed for the origin of the stellar IMF, that contains a dependence on the average physical parameters (temperature, density, velocity dispersion) of the large scale site of star formation. The model is based on recent numerical experiments of highly supersonic random flows that have a strong observational counterpart. It is shown that a Miller-Scalo like IMF is naturally produced by the model for the typical physical conditions in molecular clouds. A more ``massive'' IMF in star bursts is also predicted., Comment: 22 pages; Latex; 6 figures included. MNRAS (in press)

We study the formation of O I and OH spectral lines in three-dimensional hydrodynamic models of the solar photosphere. The line source function of the O I 777 nm triplet is allowed to depart from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), within the two-level-atom approximation. Comparison with results from 1D models show that the 3D models alleviate, but do not remove, the discrepancy between the oxygen abundances reported from non-LTE work on the 777 nm triplet and from the [O I] 630 nm and OH lines. Results for the latter two could imply that the solar oxygen abundance is below 8.8 (lg(H) = 12). If this is confirmed, the discrepancy between theory and observation for the 777 nm triplet lines might fall within the range of errors in equivalent width measurements and f-values. The line source function of the 777 nm triplet in the 1.5D approximation is shown to differ insignificantly from the full 3D non-LTE result., Comment: 10 pages, uuencoded compressed PostScript file including figures, to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Also available at ftp://www.astro.su.se/pub/dan