Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter ISM

Thursday, 24 September 2020, 16:15   (virtual room F)

Merging filaments: A race against the collapse

E. Hoemann (1), A. Burkert (1,2), S. Heigl (1)
(1) USM/LMU, (2) MPE

Observations of filaments in high density star-forming regions, e.g. Orion, often show characteristic complex structures such as fork-like split-ups. This morphology may indicate filaments which are in the process of merging. Merging filaments constitutes a problem of competing timescales, as the time to gravitationally merge has to be shorter than the timescale of collapse along the filament’s main axis. We developed an analytic model to describe the merging process, the oscillation pattern and the relevant timescales. In order to determine the validity of the analytic approach, hydrodynamic simulations with the adaptive-mesh-refinement code RAMSES were executed. The model is in good agreement with the simulations and can accurately describe the merging process between filaments.