collapse
- eventually, the cloud collapses and a star on the pre-main-sequence is formed
- the gravitational timescale:
- the angular momentum needs to be overcome, which happens via:
- accretion discs
- jets
- rotating stars
deuterium fusion
- after the initial collapse, there will be deuterium burning and the core temperature will be,
- deuterium is easier to fuse as it does not require a proton decaying into a neutron
- this forms a protostar
- after the freefall collapse, the remaining pre-main-sequence lifetime involves the star adapting to thermal energy:
- although the core gets hotter, the outer regions have to lose heat to be able to collapse