Astro Seminar
The role of hub-filament systems in the formation of low- to high-mass stars
Speaker: Doris Arzoumanian (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)
Date: Wednesday 21 June 2023
Time: 14:00
Venue: N3.28/Zoom
Observations reveal the organization of the interstellar medium into filament networks. In molecular clouds, the densest filaments are identified as the precise birthplaces of individual stars, while high-mass stars form in the hubs where the filaments merge. To understand the formation process of star clusters, it is thus essential to describe the formation and evolution of filaments and hubs and their fragmentation into star forming cores. I will present new theoretical and observational studies indicating the formation of filamentary molecular clouds at the edge of expanding bubbles. In particular, I will show observations suggesting multiple compressions responsible in the formation and evolution of the filament networks. I will discuss the role of filament coalescence and hub-filament systems in the formation process of stars from low to high masses. I will also present our new study proposing the formation of the Sun along a dense molecular filament. We show that the filament may play an important role in shielding the young solar system from a nearby supernova explosion while intercepting the required amount of supernova ejecta to explain the observations of primitive material found in meteorites.