Depuis le coeur des étoiles jusqu’à leurs environnements proches, la matière est plasma. Sa structure, sa composition et sa dynamique sont gouvernées par le champ magnétique, le rayonnement et les (...)
The role of molecular filaments in the origin of the IMF
Philippe ANDRÉ
CEA, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique AIM Paris-Saclay
résumé :
The origin of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is one of the most debated
issues in astrophysics. I will discuss new insights into this problem based on a systematic census of prestellar cores and molecular filaments in nearby clouds taken as part of the Herschel Gould Belt survey, as well as higher-resolution observations with APEX/ArTéMiS and ALMA. Our results point to the key role of the quasi-universal filamentary structure pervading molecular clouds. They suggest that the dense cores making up the peak of the prestellar core mass function (CMF) - and indirectly the peak of the IMF - result from gravitational fragmentation of molecular filaments near the critical mass per unit length. The Salpeter power-law tail of the CMF/IMF may be at least partly inherited from the filament line mass function (FLMF), which is observed to follow a Salpeter-like power law in the regime of thermally supercritical filaments.
