On the massive star-forming capacity of molecular clouds

Franco, Jose; Shore, Steven N.; Tenorio-Tagle, Guillermo
Bibliographical reference

Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 436, no. 2, p. 795-799

Advertised on:
12
1994
Number of authors
3
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
99
Refereed citations
83
Description
Assuming that photoionization is the self-limiting process for continued star formation, we estimate the maximum number of massive (OB) stars that can form within a molecular cloud. The most efficient cloud destruction mechanism in the early stages of H II region evolution is the evaporation of the cloud by stars located near the cloud boundary. The maximum number of OB stars is of order 1 per 104 solar mass of average molecular gas, or 10 per 104 solar mass of dense molecular gas. The resulting star-forming efficiencies within cloud complexes range from 2% to 16% depending on both the location of the stars in the cloud and the details of the initial mass function, with an overall value of about 5% for average molecular gas.