Photoevaporation of Molecular Gas Clumps Illuminated by External Massive Stars: Clump Lifetimes and Metallicity Dependence

Abstract

We perform a suite of 3D radiation hydrodynamics simulations of photoevaporation of molecular gas clumps illuminated by external massive stars. We study the fate of solar-mass clumps and derive their lifetimes by varying the gas metallicity over a range of . Our simulations incorporate radiation transfer of far- and extreme-ultraviolet photons and follow atomic/molecular line cooling and dust–gas collisional cooling. Nonequilibrium chemistry is coupled with the radiative transfer and hydrodynamics in a self-consistent manner. We show that radiation-driven shocks compress gas clumps to have a volume that is set by the pressure equilibrium with the hot ambient gas. Radiative cooling enables metal-rich clumps to condense and have small surface areas where photoevaporative flows are launched. For our fiducial setup with an O-type star at a distance of 0.1 pc, the resulting photoevaporation rate is as small as for metal-rich clumps, but it is larger for metal-poor clumps that have larger surface areas. The clumps are continuously accelerated away from the radiation source by the so-called rocket effect and can travel over ∼1 pc within the lifetime. We also study the photoevaporation of clumps in a photodissociation region. Photoelectric heating is inefficient for metal-poor clumps that contain a smaller amount of grains, and thus they survive for over 10 5 yr. We conclude that the gas metallicity strongly affects the clump lifetime and thus determines the strength of feedback from massive stars in star-forming regions.