ORION2: A magnetohydrodynamics code for star formation

Abstract

The formation of stars and stellar clusters remains a grand challenge problem in astrophysics that has important implications for the evolution of the interstellar medium as well as shaping the evolution of galaxies. The computational challenges are formidable and involve a coupling of highly non-linear physical processes such as hydrodynamics, self-gravity, magnetic fields, radiation transfer, supersonic turbulence, ionization, protostellar outflows, stellar winds and chemistry that have both disparate timescales as well as operate over many decades of physical length scale. These processes can regulate the feedback from nascent protostars onto the surrounding turbulent gas clouds that are the embryos of new star formation, and as a result, the feedback itself can influence the gaseous reservoir feeding newly formed protostars which in turn influence the star formation process.