Recent evidence shows several shortcomings in the current theory regarding star formation. Researchers at the Atacama Large Millimetre radio telescope in Chile have discovered a breakthrough that is not in line with our present star formation principle.
For the moment, a major challenge in the astrophysics of stars is to figure out why they have varying densities, development, colors, and magnitudes.
The recent hypothesis on star formation has been promulgated by Edwin Salpeter in 1955 and says that stars emerge from nebulae, which are dense clouds of gas and dust where the chemical compounds and other materials clog up in pockets, exert high pressures on each other and heat up leading to the formation of a star, as we know it.
Priorly, astronomers considered that a number of stars were born with different densities, known as the initial mass distribution. But this hypothesis was based on the study of nebulae in the vicinity of our solar system and, thus, was unable to provide a comprehensive overview of all the different regions where star formation occurs in galaxies.
Therefore, since new studies in this field emerged, the old star formation theory began to crumble.
Star formation might be much complex than previously thought
Now, 2 departments of the University Of Paris Diderot joined to investigate the most distant star formation cores ever discovered in the Universe. Accordingly, scientists surveyed the W43-MM1 area, which is 180,000 light years away from Earth.
They have discovered that this area boasts an excess of very large cores and only fewer tiny cores compared to what was predicted. Accordingly, the senior author of the research, the French astrophysicist Frederique Motte, claims that these new discoveries defy the hypothesis of the strong correlation between the initial mass function and the central mass function.
This new research also raises questions about the possibility that the initial mass function can be universally viable. Also, the amounts of large stars may differ in various galactic settings.
Next, the scientists plan on examining 15 more areas of the Universe to be able to verify their theories regarding star formation.
