Formation of Structure in Molecular Clouds: A Case Study

Molecular clouds (MCs) are highly structured and turbulent. Colliding gas streams of atomic hydrogen have been suggested as a possible source of MCs, imprinting the filamentary structure as a consequence of dynamical and thermal instabilities. We present a two-dimensional numerical analysis of MC fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Astrophysical journal Vol. 633; no. 2; pp. L113 - L116
Main Authors:	Heitsch, Fabian, Burkert, Andreas, Hartmann, Lee W, Slyz, Adrianne D, Devriendt, Julien E. G
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Chicago, IL IOP Publishing 10-11-2005 University of Chicago Press
Subjects:	Astronomy Earth, ocean, space Exact sciences and technology Case study stars: formation Turbulence Star formation Molecular structure Dynamics Kinematics ISM: kinematics and dynamics Numerical method ISM: clouds methods: numerical
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Molecular clouds (MCs) are highly structured and turbulent. Colliding gas streams of atomic hydrogen have been suggested as a possible source of MCs, imprinting the filamentary structure as a consequence of dynamical and thermal instabilities. We present a two-dimensional numerical analysis of MC formation via converging HI flows. Even with modest flow speeds and completely uniform inflows, nonlinear density perturbations arise as possible precursors of MCs. Thus, we suggest that MCs are inevitably formed with substantial structure, e.g., strong density and velocity fluctuations, which provide the initial conditions for subsequent gravitational collapse and star formation in a variety of Galactic and extragalactic environments.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	1538-4357 0004-637X 1538-4357
DOI:	10.1086/498413