Volume Density Thresholds for Overall Star Formation imply Mass-Size Thresholds for Massive Star Formation

We aim at understanding the massive star formation (MSF) limit $m® = 870 M_{\odot} (r/pc)^{1.33}$ in the mass-size space of molecular structures recently proposed by Kauffmann & Pillai (2010). As a first step, we build on the hypothesis of a volume density threshold for overall star formation and the model of Parmentier (2011) to establish the mass-radius relations of molecular clumps containing given masses of star-forming gas. Specifically, we relate the mass $m_{clump}$, radius $r_{clump}$ and density profile slope $-p$ of molecular clumps which contain a mass $m_{th}$ of gas denser than a volume density threshold ${\rho }_{th}$. In a second step, we use the relation between the mass of embedded-clusters and the mass of their most-massive star to estimate the minimum mass of star-forming gas needed to form a $10M_{\odot }$ star. Assuming a star formation efficiency of $SFE\simeq 0.30$, this gives $m_{th,crit}\simeq 150M_{\odot }$. In a third step, we demonstrate that, for sensible choices of the clump density index ($p\simeq 1.7$) and of the cluster formation density threshold ($n_{th}\simeq {10}^{4}c{m}^{-3}$), the line of constant $m_{th,crit}\simeq 150M_{\odot }$ in the mass-radius space of molecular structures equates with the MSF limit for spatial scales larger than 0.3,pc. Hence, the observationally inferred MSF limit of Kauffmann & Pillai is consistent with a threshold in star-forming gas mass beyond which the star-forming gas reservoir is large enough to allow the formation of massive stars. For radii smaller than 0.3,pc, the MSF limit is shown to be consistent with the formation of a $10M_{\odot }$ star out of its individual pre-stellar core of density threshold $n_{th}\simeq {10}^{5}c{m}^{-3}$. The inferred density thresholds for the formation of star clusters and individual stars within star clusters match those previously suggested in the literature.