Random fragmentation of molecular cloud and initial mass function – a Monte Carlo simulation study

Abstract

Monte Carlo simulation study is carried out for the investigation of the nature of initial mass function in molecular clouds of various masses in which effect of time has been taken into account. The number of fragments, the fractional masses of the fragments at any stage in the hierarchy of fragmentation and the fractional mass of the parent cloud consumed in the fragmentation process are considered as random numbers. The distribution of the number of fragments is time dependent which is generated from Poisson process and that of the fractional masses is assumed to be Gaussian. The resulting mass spectrum, at the end of fragmentation is a power law and a substantial amount of cloud mass is found to be in the brown dwarf regime. The results are discussed and compared with observations.