Structural analysis of massive protoclusters formed from cloud collision

Abstract

The main processes that trigger the collapse and fragmentation of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in star-forming regions are poorly understood. One of the proposed mechanisms for the formation of massive stellar clusters is the collision between GMCs. In this degree project, the main objective is to study the characteristics of proto-stellar clusters formed from the simulation of the collision of two GMCs with different initial velocities and immersed in regions with different magnetic field strengths of the order of 10 - 50 microG. An introduction to the formation of star clusters in molecular clouds and some of the methods used in the development of the analysis are given in chapter 1. Simulations of the collision of giant molecular clouds used in the analysis are described in chapter 2. The filtering made, equivalent to that resulting when a structure is observed by ALMA is described in chapter 3. Subsequently, the structural analysis and protoclusters properties are presented in chapter 4. Finally, chapter 5 discusses the conclusions of the degree project and some perspectives for future work in this line of research. As a major result of this work, we found it is possible to distinguish between the collision nature of the clouds, that is, whether they collide powered by an initial velocity or purely by gravity. Some metrics presented used are able to show a correlation with magnetic field strengths for both collision cases. Some others, like filament bending angle and mass segregation fraction, work only for colliding clouds.