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The Formation of a Cluster of Stars and Brown Dwarfs in a Turbulent Molecular Cloud

Matthew R. Bate, Ian A. Bonnell, and Volker Bromm

Proceedings of `The Origins of Stars and Planets: The VLT View', ESO Astrophysics Symposia, eds. J. Alves, M.J. McCaughrean (Springer Verlag), in press. Conference held at ESO, Garching, Germany, 24-27 April 2001

Abstract

We present preliminary results from the first hydrodynamic calculation to follow the collapse and fragmentation of a large-scale turbulent molecular cloud into a stellar cluster while resolving beyond the opacity limit for fragmentation. The calculation produces a mixture of single and binary stars with comparable numbers of stars and brown dwarfs. Without exception, the brown dwarfs are formed by ejection from unstable multiple systems. The calculation produces a stellar initial mass function in agreement with observations. However, at this stage in the calculation, no high-mass ($>0.03$ M$_\odot$) brown dwarfs have been formed because they are ejected too soon after formation to have accreted much mass.

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