event
Wednesday 27 Mar 2013: Numerical simulations of triggered star formation in expanding HII regions
Dr Thomas Bisbas - University College London
Physics, 4th floor 14:00-15:00
Ionizing radiation plays a crucial role in star formation at all epochs. Its interaction with the interstellar medium may result in positive feedback, either by compressing pre-existing clouds and rendering them unstable, or by sweeping up gravitationally unstable shells. It may also result in negative feedback by dispersing residual dense gas. In this talk we will discuss about Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics numerical simulations of triggered star formation in expanding ionized regions. We will show examples of i) spherically symmetric expanding HII regions emphasizing on the most dominant instabilities observed, ii) radiation driven implosion emphasizing on the conditions under which star formation is triggered and iii) HII regions expanding in a fractal medium. We will also present preliminary outcomes of 3D-PDR, a recently developed astrochemistry code for treating Photodissociation Regions of arbitrary density distribution. Modelling the physics and chemistry of expanding HII regions can reveal
interesting new insights on the exact process of star formation.
