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Copyright by Athena Ranice Stacy 2011 - The University of Texas at ...

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Figure 4.4: Specific torque acting on the gas within the central 5000 AU <strong>of</strong> the<br />

simul<strong>at</strong>ion box, the region enclosing the large-scale star-forming disk. Torques<br />

are calcul<strong>at</strong>ed <strong>at</strong> a represent<strong>at</strong>ive time <strong>of</strong> 2500 years after the first sink forms.<br />

Shown is the z-component, perpendicular to disk plane, <strong>of</strong> all contributions<br />

to specific torque as measured from sink A. <strong>The</strong> asterisk denotes the loc<strong>at</strong>ion<br />

<strong>of</strong> sink A, the cross denotes the loc<strong>at</strong>ion <strong>of</strong> sink B, and the diamonds are<br />

the loc<strong>at</strong>ions <strong>of</strong> the remaining lower-mass sinks. <strong>The</strong>re is a total <strong>of</strong> six sinks,<br />

but this number will l<strong>at</strong>er be reduced through sink mergers. Note the spiral<br />

structure, where gravit<strong>at</strong>ional torques will remove angular momentum from<br />

the disk center on a timescale <strong>of</strong> approxim<strong>at</strong>ely 100-1000 years.<br />

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