Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton Accretion onto a Protoplanetary Disk (2009)
Moeckel, Nickolas, Throop, Henry B.
Young stellar systems orbiting in the potential of their birth cluster can accrete from the dense molecular interstellar medium during the period between the star's birth and the dispersal of the...
Does sub-cluster merging accelerate mass segregation in local star formation? (2009)
Moeckel, Nickolas, Bonnell, Ian A.
The nearest site of massive star formation in Orion is dominated by the Trapezium subsystem, with its four OB stars and numerous companions. The question of how these stars came to be in such close...
Limits on initial mass segregation in young clusters (2009)
Moeckel, Nickolas, Bonnell, Ian A.
Mass segregation is observed in many star clusters, including several that are less than a few Myr old. Timescale arguments are frequently used to argue that these clusters must be displaying...
A Pulsed, Precessing Jet in Cepheus A (2009)
Cunningham, Nathaniel J., Moeckel, Nickolas, Bally, John
We present near-infrared H2, radio CO, and thermal infrared observations of the nearby massive star-forming region Cepheus A (Cep A). From H2 bow shocks arranged along four distinct jet axes, we...
Extrasolar Planet Eccentricities from Scattering in the Presence of Residual Gas Disks (2008)
Moeckel, Nickolas, Raymond, Sean N., Armitage, Philip J.
Gravitational scattering between massive planets has been invoked to explain the eccentricity distribution of extrasolar planets. For scattering to occur, the planets must either form in -- or...
Binary Capture Rates for Massive Protostars (2007)
Moeckel, Nickolas, Bally, John
The high multiplicity of massive stars in dense, young clusters is established early in their evolution. The mechanism behind this remains unresolved. Recent results suggest that massive protostars...
Capture Formed Binaries via Encounters with Massive Protostars (2006)
Moeckel, Nickolas, Bally, John
Most massive stars are found in the center of dense clusters, and have a companion fraction much higher than their lower mass siblings; the massive stars of the Trapezium core in Orion have ~ 1.5...
Stellar Encounters with Massive Star-Disk Systems (2006)
Moeckel, Nickolas, Bally, John
The dense, clustered environment in which massive stars form can lead to interactions with neighboring stars. It has been hypothesized that collisions and mergers may contribute to the growth of the...