How does the timescale for gravitational collapse significantly differ for a high-mass protostar (e.g., $30 M_{ ext{sun}}$) compared to a Sun-like object?
Answer
The collapse is much faster for high-mass protostars, potentially under 10,000 years.
The duration over which a protostar shines purely via gravitational contraction (the Kelvin-Helmholtz timescale) is highly dependent on mass. While a star similar in mass to the Sun might take roughly 30 million years to complete this phase, the situation is dramatically different for very massive objects. Due to their substantially greater gravitational force, high-mass protostars experience a vastly accelerated rate of heating and collapse. Consequently, the time required for them to reach the next critical stage, marked by fusion ignition and stabilization, is extremely brief, estimated to be less than 10,000 years.
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