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A. D. Medina, V. V. Dwarkadas (University of Chicago), P. M. Ricker (UIUC/NCSA), J. W. Truran Jr. (University of Chicago)
Although globular clusters have been studied for decades, their formation mechanism still remains unclear. In this poster we focus on one of the assumed scenarios for their formation, that of self-enrichment within the proto-globular cluster cloud. The ejecta from multiple supernova explosions arising from an early generation of stars sweeps up the ambient gas within the cloud as it expands outwards, slowing down in the process until it becomes radiative. The transition to the radiative stage can lead to the onset of hydrodynamic instabilities and mixing of the ejecta products with the surroundings. If the proto-cluster cloud can avoid disruption the gas may condense to form stars, giving rise to a low metallicity globular cluster. We have investigated this model using one and two-dimensional numerical hydrodynamic simulations in spherical geometry. The simulations were carried out using the FLASH code, a modular, adaptive-mesh, parallel, multi-dimensional, multi-species PPM based hydrodynamic code, including radiative cooling via a cooling function.
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant PHY 02-16783 for the Frotier Center "Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics" (JINA).
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: amedina@uchicago.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.