What phenomena could happen during and after

the star formation process?

Hồ Minh Chính
Abstract:

Stars are very important objects in the universe. A complete

understanding of the stars is a huge step forward in the
exploration of the universe. Because of that, the topic of star
formation has always received a lot of attention from
astronomers. The long process from when the molecular cloud
collapses under its gravity and forms a protostar until it begins
to fuse hydrogen in its core and officially becomes a complete
star like the Sun is complex but equally fascinating. Despite a
lot of research and observations, there are still many star-
forming factors that humans have not been able to decipher until
now. This paper is a literature review and the goal is to
summarize our current knowledge of star formation. This review
will go into detail about each stage of star formation, some of
which may include special phenomena or the equations used to
understand and study it.

i) Introduction
A star is a giant celestial body that can be defined as a glowing ball of gas, mostly
hydrogen and helium, held together by its gravity. The stars also serve as valuable
research materials for mankind's cosmological research. Because of this, topics such
as star formation and what determines its properties are of particular interest to
 astronomers. The most widely accepted opinion is that stars are formed when
matter diffused in space condenses together by gravity. In fact, this view has been
around for a very long time, it is almost as old as the concept of gravity proposed by
Newton in 1692. However, only in the last 50 years have humans been able to find
evidence to corroborate this theory. To this day, the topic of star formation is still a
dominant topic that is still in the process of research and observation.

Star formation takes place in the interstellar medium, which is filled with dust and
gas. In particular, we initially start with a cloud filled with moving gas molecules.
Due to the fact that these molecules have motion, there is pressure inside the cloud.
Although these molecules have mass, the cloud does not collapse under its own
gravity, instead, it is repelled by doing so thanks to the motion of the particles. Thus,
the pressure overcomes its mutual attraction. However, something happened, and it
triggered dense clumps of dust and gas to form somewhere in the cloud. These
dense clumps have more mass than that of diffused matter, thus having greater
gravity. At this point, gravity overcomes the pressure and begins to form small cores
inside the clumps. These cores are called protostars, and they begin to increase in
mass, increase gravity, and accelerate the collapse as a result. Then, as it deflates, it
rotates and flattens the disc, thereby creating something called a circumstellar disk.
The inner disk is responsible for feeding the protostar; it is often called the accretion
disk or the protostar disc. Meanwhile, the outermost disk gradually flattens and
becomes what is known as the protoplanetary disk. After the star "lights up," or
when its temperature and pressure are high enough for thermonuclear fusion in the
core, it creates rapid winds that blow away the disk. The planets remaining in the
outer disk will collect debris in their path and complete the planetary system.

II) The ISM, the molecular clouds and their relationship

with star formation process
To better understand star formation, we must first understand the interstellar
medium. Simply put, all the materials between stars are called interstellar matter,
and the entire collection of interstellar matter is called the interstellar medium. The
 time it takes for a star to die varies depending on the star's mass, but one way or
another, most of the matter involved will eventually return to the interstellar
medium. These same materials will then be used to create new generation stars.
Some of this matter will gather together to form giant clouds called nebulae (Latin
for "clouds"). Nebulae also do not live long compared to other objects in the
universe. In fact, they are quite similar to the clouds on Earth; they are also
constantly moving, merging, growing and dispersing. Some nebulae will also
become denser and larger, and at some point will collapse under their own gravity
and form new stars.

An estimated 99% of interstellar matter is gaseous, often referred to as "interstellar

gas". It is composed of individual atoms or molecules. Some of the most prominent
elements of interstellar gas include hydrogen and helium (also the two main
elements of a star), there are of course a few others, but they are insignificant. The
remaining 1% of the interstellar medium is solid particles, consisting of rocky cores
that are either rich in carbon or rich in silicates. The cores are covered with icy
layers such as water (H2O), methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3). These solid
particles are called interstellar grains or interstellar dust. Another fact is that the
interstellar medium has a surprisingly low density. Particularly for interstellar gas,
its density is only 1 gas atom/ , while for interstellar dust, there are only a few
hundred to several thousand tiny dust particles (much smaller than household dust)
per cubic kilometer. Despite the low density, the interstellar medium is very large.
For example, the diameter of the Sun is only 4 light seconds, but the distance from
the Sun to the nearest star is up to 4 light years. Therefore, the interstellar medium
is unbelievably heavy.

2.1) Interstellar Dust

Unlike the regular dust you often see on the road, interstellar dust is usually very
small, even less than 1 micron. Dust particles are often very oddly shaped and are
made up of compounds of carbon, silicates, ice and iron. These dust particles
instead of emitting light like interstellar gas, block the light. They do not completely
 block the light that passes through, but we can hardly see it with the little light left.
This phenomenon is known as interstellar extinction. Extinction occurs because
light rays, after interacting with dust particles, are scattered out of our view. In this
dispersion, the blue light will be scattered more than red light, depending on its
molecular size. As a result, the light reaching our eyes will appear red; this is known
as the interstellar reddening. However, that does not mean that blue light cannot be
seen. Blue light after being scattered can still reach us through the reflection nebula,
which is the dusty gas surrounds a star and reflects its light to us.

2.2) Interstellar gas

To observe and study interstellar gas is a difficult and complex challenge. However,
humanity has found ways to observe different components of the ISM based on their
properties.

+) Ionized Hydrogen (H II) Regions—Gas Near Hot Stars

Due to the fact that hydrogen is a major component of interstellar gas, astronomers
often observe the state of hydrogen to classify the different clouds in interstellar gas.
In this case, when the hydrogen in that region has been ionized, the region will be
called the H II region (the phrase H II indicates that hydrogen has lost its electron).

Extremely hot stars can heat the gases around them to temperatures of
approximately 10,000K, which is something that mid-range stars like the Sun are
not capable of. Ultraviolet radiation from those stars will also ionize hydrogen,
causing its electrons to slip away from the proton. But it's clear that those protons
won't be able to sit still in front of the surrounding attractive electrons forever.
Because of this, at some point will capture an electron and return to the neutral
state as before, preparing to absorb ultraviolet light and repeat the process.
 When electrons are captured by
hydrogen nuclei, they give off energy
in the form of light through a process
called fluorescence. Fluorescence can
be roughly understood as the process
of converting ultraviolet radiation into
visible light. Not only hydrogen, but
other elements of interstellar gas will
also undergo fluorescence and be seen
by astronomers in color. For
hydrogen, the most commonly seen
color is red, which is why images of
the H II region appear mostly red (see
figure 1). Figure 1: Orion Nebula (credit: NASA, ESA, M. Robberto (Space
Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope
Orion Treasury Project Team)

+) Neutral Hydrogen Clouds

Even if that way could actually show us interstellar gas, we would only be able to
observe a small fraction of that gas; because of course not all stars are hot enough to
emit that much ultraviolet radiation. Therefore, humans had to find some way to
observe gases in regions where hydrogen is not ionized. These regions are often
referred to as H I regions, indicating that the gas is in a neutral state.
 The difficulty in observing gases in this region is that the neutral hydrogen atoms
do not emit light or do not absorb light. It is this property that makes it nearly
impossible to observe gases in the HI region. However, the interstellar gas not only
contains hydrogen, but there are also other small elements located in that region,
and they absorb light. This means that when we observe light sources such as stars
or galaxies, we can observe additional lines in its spectrum that are produced when
interstellar gas absorbs light at specific frequencies (see figure 2).

Figure 2: Absorption lines through an Interstellar Dust Cloud. When an interstellar matter exists between us and the stars,
we can expect that the absorption lines of that matter will be narrower and more numerous than those of stars.

Another way we can see is through regions where hydrogen is colder. Specifically,
these regions will have much colder hydrogen than other regions, so they cannot
emit visible or infrared light, but instead they will emit radio radiation. Therefore,
we can detect interstellar gas through radio waves. The most prominent way of
applying that property is known as 21-cm radiation.

In general, we have hydrogen that exists in two states: the electron rotates in the
same direction as the proton, or the electron rotates in the opposite direction of the
proton. If the rotation of the electron and proton is not in the same direction, it will
have slightly less energy than the other case. Changing what we call the "rotational
flip transition", when the electron goes from parallel to the proton to the opposite of
 the proton, it emits that 21 cm wavelength. Now that wavelength can then be
detected by radio telescopes.

+) Ultra-Hot Interstellar Gas

As for how to see extremely hot clouds, it is very easy. The matter in these clouds
often has a temperature of several million degrees Celsius, things like this can
include: the remnants of a supernova. So, with extreme temperatures, these clouds
would give off a lot of X-rays, and we could use this emission of X-rays to see
interstellar gas.

+) Molecular cloud

Molecular clouds often appear in dark, dense regions of interstellar space. In these
clouds, complex atoms can be formed. The reason these molecules don't form
outside of atomic clouds is that the UV rays emitted by stars would have enough
energy to tear these molecules apart. Meanwhile, in these dense clouds, they would
be able to shield molecules from interstellar gas, thanks to gravity. The molecules
formed are usually organic molecules or carbon molecules, such as water (H2O),
carbon monoxide (CO), ammonia (NH3), etc. It is the above that make these
molecular clouds become the site of star formation.

Unlike the clouds above, the hydrogen in these clouds is blocked from UV rays, so it
usually has a very low temperature, close to 10 K (-263 degrees C). This makes the
H2 molecule, which is the most prominent, unobservable. Instead, they observed
the cloud using CO molecules, since these molecules are usually present wherever
H2 is present, and it emits more radio radiation than H2.

III) Jeans Instability and gravitational collapse

Referring to the process of star formation, we must mention Sir James Jeans. It was
Sir Jeans who gave us a detailed description of the physical factors in star
formation. One of his research achievements, which I will explain in the following
paragraphs, is called Jeans instability.

As mentioned earlier, the giant molecular clouds are where star formation takes
place, when nothing triggers the molecular clouds; they are in a state known as
hydrostatic equilibrium. Simply put, this state occurs because the gravitational
force on the side of the molecular cloud equalizes the opposing pressure, leaving the
molecular cloud fixed and static. To describe this state on paper, scientists created a
theorem called the virial theorem.

2K + U = 0
In this formula, K represents the total potential energy of the molecules in the
cloud, and U is the gravitational potential energy of the cloud. Looking at the
theorem, we understand that if the kinetic energy of the cloud exceeds the potential
energy of gravity twice, the pressure will overcome gravity, causing the cloud to
expand. If the potential energy of gravity is greater than the kinetic energy, then
gravity wins and the cloud collapses, thereby creating a star. By analyzing this
theorem, we can infer that the Jeans criterion is:

| |

Based on this gravitational potential energy formula:

We can see that the gravitational potential will varies based on the mass and radius
of the cloud. Specifically, if the mass of the cloud increases, so does U. Conversely, if
 the radius of the cloud increases, then U decreases. It is this piece of knowledge that
will lead us to two subclasses of Jeans Instability, Jeans Mass and Jeans Length.

+) Jeans Mass

Sir James Jeans has shown that for a cloud of a given radius and temperature, there
is a critical mass that is now known as the Jeans Mass. If it is exceeded, the cloud
will become unstable to collapse.

We will start with the two formulas used to calculate gravitational potential energy
and kinetic energy from the virial theorem. Above, I talked about the formula for
calculating U aka gravitational potential energy. Therefore, the formula for
calculating potential energy will be given below:

The in the formula is referred to Boltzmann’s constant. Unfortunately, this

equation of potential energy is not really useful because it still contains a redundant
unit. That unit is N, which represents the number of particles in the cloud. To make
this equation work, we need to change N in term of mass instead. Luckily, we have
the formula

that can be used to replace N. From there, we can modify the formula for the
potential energy to:
 In this edited formula, is the average molecular weight, is the atomic mass of
hydrogen, and M is the total mass of the cloud.

Going back to our virial theorem, we can now substitute U and K for the above
formulas. Next, we have to balance U and 2K to form the equation:

At this point, we have to rearrange the equation to make M (total cloud mass) stand
apart.

Finally, we just need to remove R (cloud radius) with the formula:

⁄
( )

and we will have the complete Jeans Mass expression:

⁄ ⁄
( ) ( )

+) Jeans length

Jeans length is the critical size of a gas cloud, of a certain temperature and density,
above which the cloud must collapse under its gravity. Below this size, the cloud's
internal pressure is sufficient to resist collapse.
 To calculate the Jeans Length, we have to go back and use the virial theorem.
Starting with the formula for kinetic energy (K), we will try to eliminate N again
using the formulas given above. However, this time we will set that kinetic energy in
terms of radius R and density . After being simplify, the kinetic energy’s formula
will be converted to:

( )

Now we want to do the same thing with the original gravitational potential energy
formula. We want to put it in terms of radius and density and take that mass M out
so what we have to do is just swap mass for radius and density then we get the final
expression below:

At this point, all we have to do is put the above two formulas into our virial
theorem, equate them, and rearrange the equation so that R stands alone (Similar to
the Jeans mass above). And just like that we have the complete formula of Jeans
Length.

+) What causes Instability?

The collapse of a cloud of atoms takes a very long time, with most stars taking
millions of years. But the millions of years of the collapse of these clouds are also
considered a short period compared to the universe's lifespan that scientists
 estimate (10+ billion years of age). This process takes so long because these
molecular clouds are not prone to collapse, so it is very difficult to believe that the
molecular cloud suddenly collapses for no reason. Astronomers believe that
something must be at work on these clouds to make them fit the Jeans criterion.

There has been a lot of speculation about this, but by far the most popular
suggestion is probably the supernova explosion mechanism. Astronomers believe
that when supernova explosions occur, they create a very powerful shock wave that
travels at one-tenth the speed of light through interstellar space. When this shock
wave collides with a molecular cloud, it easily overcomes the force of the impact to
counteract the compression of the gas. These compressions are believed to make the
cloud suitable for Jeans Criterion and thereby trigger star formation.

Another notable suggestion that has been proposed in connection with this topic is
the cooling of interstellar gas. Specifically, we know that in interstellar space, both
dust and gas have the same temperature due to the collisions between them. Unlike
gas, dust normally radiates energy in the form of infrared radiation, and then it
loses this energy permanently. As the dust particles lose heat, the heat from the gas
will be transferred to the dust particles by collision, which will cause the interstellar
gas to cool. As the gas cools, the pressure it creates will also decrease, thus causing
the cloud to shrink.

IV) Protostar

The first step in star formation is the formation of a dense core in a clump of gas
and dust. All the stars we know so far come from these cores, which are created
when the gravity of the hot inner material overcomes the pressure created by the
cold outer material, causing these materials to collapse and increase the density of
the core. After these dense cores have absorbed enough matter, they will begin to
have a fusion of hydrogen to begin producing helium. Prior to this process, these
dense cores would be known as protostars. Another important protostar
information, during the transition from protostar to main sequence star (which
stage begins to fuse hydrogen to form helium), the initial mass greatly affects the
transition time of the protostar. This information is described more fully in the table
below:

Pre-main-sequence contraction times for the classical models presented in Fig 3.

(Data from Bernasconi and Maeder, Astron. Astrophys., 307, 829, 1996.)

Whenever we talk about protostar formation, we must always keep angular

momentum in mind. As we all know, every moving object has momentum, so every
rotating object has rotational momentum aka angular momentum. And the angular
momentum is based on 3 factors: the mass of the rotating body (m), the speed of
rotation (v), and the distance from the rotating body to the axis (r). In summary, we
have the formula:

L=mvr
One thing we must also remember about angular momentum is that they are
conserved quantities. This means that if one of the other three factors changes, the
remaining factors will also change so that L remains the same.

The natural turbulence within these clumps always creates rotation in the materials
within them. The result of that is that the collapsed cores all rotate. As noted above,
angular momentum is a conserved quantity, so if the core decreases in size its
rotational speed will increase. Here's what happens when these dense cores clump
together to become a protostar: as it contracts, it spins faster. This piece of
knowledge is represented by a smaller formula that is upgraded from the above
formula.
 (ω is called omega, representing rotational rate)

However, regions above the protostar will absorb unequal amounts of matter. It is
because interstellar matter is more likely to merge with the protostar at the poles
(where it rotates the slowest) than at the equator (where it rotates fastest). As a
result, material at the equator will be trapped by the protostars and form an
expanding disk that rotates around the equator known as the accretion disk.

V) T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be star

At this point, the protostar has entered a phase known as the pre-main sequence
star. Notable stars in this batch include the T Tauri star or the Herbig Ae/Be star
(HAEBE). To make it easier to explain everything that happens in this process, let's
consider the pre-main sequence evolutionary track of the Hertzsprung-Russel
diagram, also known as the HR diagram.

+) Hertzsprung-Russel Diagram: Pre-main sequence track

 Fig 3: Classical pre-main-sequence evolutionary tracks computed for stars of various masses with the composition X = 0.68,
Y = 0.30, and Z = 0.02 (Adapted from Bernasconi and Maeder, Astron. Astrophys., 307, 829, 1996.)

As observed from the diagram, on the horizontal axis of the graph is the
temperature of the stars, increasing from right to left. The vertical axis of the
diagram shows the star's luminosity increasing from bottom to top. Based on the
trends on the chart, it is not difficult for us to conclude that the larger the star, the
brighter and hotter it is. The square to the right of each line illustrates the onset of
the deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen) burning in these calculations. The long dash
line shows the point on each track where convection in each envelope stops and
causes the envelope to become completely radiant, while the short dash line shows
the point at which convection occurs in the core of the star. This diagram shows the
birth of a star from being a protostar until it becomes a zero-age main sequence star
(ZAMS). Starting from the right, the endpoints of each evolution track represent
protostars of different masses. In this diagram, we usually see that the lowest limit
for the mass of the protostar is 0.5 M☉. This is because if the protostar is less
massive than 0.5 M☉, it will not be able to burn hydrogen and become a brown
dwarf. Finally, after a normal protostar passes through 2 tracks known as the
Hayashi track and the Henyey track, they will become main sequence stars.

If we pay close attention to the above diagram, we will notice that on the evolution
track of protostars, there is a section where the line is sunken. The distance from the
beginning of the road to the center of the dent area is often referred to as the
Hayashi track, named after the Japanese physicist, Chushiro Hayashi. During the
time the star is in the Hayashi track, the protostar will slowly heat up, but its
luminosity will decrease somewhat. At some point, the core will be dense and hot
enough to fuse deuterium and release a negligible amount of energy. After the end of
the Hayashi track, it can be seen that the evolutionary path will gradually return to
its original path, even increasing the luminosity (high-mass stars). This part of the
evolutionary track is known as the Henyey track, named for the American
astronomer, Louis Henyey.

+) T Tauri star
T Tauri stars are variable stars with a lifespan of about 10 million years. This class
is named after the prototype, T Tauri, a young star in the Taurus star-forming
region. T Tauri star is also the most prominent pre-main sequence star.

In the Hertzsprung-Russel pre-main sequence diagram, the T Tauri stars are

concentrated at the Hayashi track, a relationship between luminosity and
temperature obeyed by infant stars of less than 3 solar masses (M☉) in the pre-
main sequence of the process star evolution. For the reasons I explained above
about the mass limit of protostars, it is clear that no T Tauri star can have a mass
less than 0.5 M.

Fig 4: Locations of the T Tauri stars on the H-R diagram. The size of the circles indicates the rotation rate. Stars with
strong emission lines are represented by filled circles and weak emission line stars are indicated by open circles (Figure
adapted from Bertout, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys., 27, 351, 1989)
 T Tauri star typically includes spectral types F, G, K and M (<2M). The surface
temperatures of these T Tauri stars are usually quite similar to the surface
temperatures of main sequence stars; however, their luminosity is greater than that
of main sequence stars because of their larger radii. Although the surface
temperature is as large as that of main sequence stars, their central temperature is
much lower than that of main sequence stars. The central temperature of the star T
Tauri is usually not enough to initiate hydrogen fusion. So instead of charging from
there, they usually use the gravitational potential energy generated during their
contraction. The T Tauri star also emits a lot of radio and X-rays (1000 times more
than the Sun). Most of them have very strong and high-velocity bipolar stellar
winds.

If the knowledge of the spectral type stars is confusing, the following table will be
helpful:

Spectral Type Color Temperature Range Prevalence of among Main Sequence Stars Examples

O Blue-violet >30,000 K 0.00003% Stars of Orion's Belt

B Blue-white 10,000 K - 30,000 K 0.13% Rigel

A White 7,500 K - 10,000 K 0.6% Sirius

F Yellow-white 6,000 K - 7,500 K 3% Polaris

G Yellow 5,000 K - 6,000 K 7.6% Sun

K Orange 3,500 K - 5000 K 12.1% Arcturus

M Red-orange <3,500 K 76.5% Proxima Centauri

Credit: Las Crumbres Observatory

+) Herbig Ae/Be star

Another conspicuous type of pre-main sequence star is the Herbig Ae/Be (HAeBe)
star, named after George Herbig. These pre-main sequence stars are of spectral type
A or B and have strong emission lines (hence the name Ae/Be). In general, the
activity of these stars is quite similar to T Tauri both in terms of position in the H-R
diagram and in properties, but they have different masses. HAeBe's mass ranges
from 2M☉-10M☉, while T Tauri's mass is less than 2M☉. HAeBe stars tend to be
surrounded by excess gas and dust. HAeBe stars are not as well studied as T Tauri
stars because most of them have very short lifetimes (because of their high mass)
and in part because fewer intermediate-mass than lower-mass stars form from a
cloud.

VI) Some phenomena happens during the PMS stage

+) Protoplanetary disk

The protoplanetary disk is made up of 99% gas and 1% dust (since they are mostly
made of interstellar matter. These disks often surround pre-main sequence stars,
which are still in the process of collapsing, and block the visible light emitted by
these stars. For that reason, we can only observe protostars using their infrared
emission or observe them when they have become T Tauri stars and are no longer
obscured by the protoplanetary disk. These disks could also be considered accretion
disks, except that they would produce planets, hypothetically. Protoplanetary disks
usually have masses from 0.003M☉-0.1M☉, sizes ranging from a few tens to nearly
1,000 Astronomical Units. The matter inside the protoplanetary disk will slowly
move and stick together, at some point they will become planetesimals with a length
of kilometers. Finally, protoplanetary disks typically disperse after 2-3 million years
through their fusion of matter into planets and photoevaporation caused by stellar
radiation.

+) Protostellar jets and Herbig-Haro objects.

The main feature of young stars is their association with supersonic, highly
collimated winds that propagate along the polar axis of the protostar-disk system
with a few hundred km/s speed. These outflows/winds are found in protostellar
sources over a wide range of masses, from early stages of pre-main sequence stars to
classic T Tauri stars, whose envelopes have already dispersed. One of the key roles
of these jets is to regulate star formation by removing excess angular momentum of
the disc material and allow matter to flow towards the center. Protostellar wind also
provides an important feedback mechanism between star formation and its
surroundings, to which they return mass and energy to the interstellar medium.
These winds are often referred to as proto-stellar winds or proto-stellar jets, these
jets are ejected from a rotation accretion disk around a low-mass protostar,
however, there is still much controversy surrounding the ejection mechanism of
these jets. Additionally, for young protostars like T Tauri, their protostellar winds
can also be called bipolar outflows, because the jets are ejected from 2 poles of the
protostar.

One phenomenon closely related to protostellar jets from protostars like T Tauri is
the Herbig Haro object. The Herbig-Haro object was first discovered in the early
1950s in the vicinity of the Orion Nebula by George Herbig and Guillermo Haro. As
the jets expand supersonically into the interstellar medium, the collisions excite the
gas, resulting in bright objects with emission lines spectrum. These particular
objects are also usually only about 1 parsec (3.26 lyrs) away from the source of the
jet and the lifespan of these phenomena is only a few tens to several hundred
thousand years, very short astronomically speaking. Typical Herbig-Haro objects
have a temperature of about 10,000 Kelvin, densities of several thousand to several
hundred thousand particles/cm3, and can contain up to 20 Earth masses of matter.
About 600 Herbig-Haro objects have been discovered so far, all of which are located
in the star-forming region and are associated with Bok globules.
Figure 5: Outflows from Protostar. These images were taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and show jets flowing outward from newly
formed stars. In the HH47 image, a protostar 1500 light-years away (invisible inside a dust disk at the left edge of the image) produces a very
complicated jet. The star may actually be wobbling, perhaps because it has a companion. Light from the star illuminates the white region at
the left because light can emerge perpendicular to the disk (just as the jet does). At right, the jet is plowing into existing clumps of
interstellar gas, producing a shock wave that resembles an arrowhead. (Credit “HH 47”: modification of work by NASA, ESA, and P. Hartigan
(Rice University)

VII) Conclusion and references

+) Conclusion

The entire process of star formation begins in molecular clouds located in the vast
interstellar medium. By the time that molecular cloud fully meets the Jeans
Criterion, gravity will overcome the pressure and the cloud will collapse to form
clumps of gas. These clumps continue to absorb more material and will enter the
pre-main sequence phase and take on the name protostar. At the protostar level,
discs of accretionary material for the protostar will appear thanks to gravity and
better absorption of the material at the protostar's poles. After that, the protostar
will develop into a T Tauri star, Herbig Ae/Be star, or O-type star (extremely rare)
before it begins to fuse hydrogen in its core and become a main sequence star. Note
that during the pre-main sequence, the star will eject protostellar jets and produce
Herbig Haro objects after colliding with surrounding materials. Using the
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, Hayashi and Henyey track, we can understand more
clearly and thoroughly the evolution of protostars, particularly details such as
lifespan, evolutionary time, brightness, and mass.
 It is clear that the topic of star formation is vast and this paper alone cannot cover
all knowledge. Some important insights that I have not covered in this topic include
the magnetic fields of stars and the turbulence in the molecular cloud. Some of the
little things that I haven't been able to cover are O-type stars, Bok globules, etc.

+) References

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