An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A scenario for building up → massive stars through merging of → intermediate-mass protostars. It occurs in the cores of dense stellar clusters that have undergone core contraction due to rapid → accretion of gas with low → specific angular momentum. The required densities are, however, very high, 10⁸ stars pc^-3, which are extremely rare (Bonnell et al. 1998, MNRAS 298, 93).

See also: → coalescence; → model.