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Constraints on the stellar upper mass limit from simulations of UV disk ablation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2024

N. Dylan Kee*
Affiliation:
National Solar Observatory, 22 Ohi’a Ku St, Makawao, HI 96768, USA
Rolf Kuiper
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Lotharstraße 1, D-47057 Duisburg, Germany
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Abstract

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This contribution presents recent advances in identifying the stellar upper mass limit using simulations of UV radiative feedback during the star formation process. Generally, due to computational costs and a focus on au to parsec scales, simulations of massive star formation do not trace the flow of material to distances closer than a few au from the forming star. However, UV line-acceleration acts directly on accreting material in the sub-au circumstellar region, thereby efficiently ablating the surface layers off the protostellar disk. For stars on the order of a few hundred solar masses, this disk destruction rate exceeds the accretion rate, destroying the disk faster than it is replenished, and setting a maximum stellar mass as a function of metallicity that can be attained by single star formation channels.

Type
Contributed Paper
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union

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