OBSERVATIONAL DETERMINATION OF THE TURBULENT AMBIPOLAR DIFFUSION SCALE AND MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTH IN MOLECULAR CLOUDS

Journal Article · Wed Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/720/1/603· OSTI ID:21460102

Hezareh, Talayeh; Houde, Martin; McCoey, Carolyn ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7 (Canada)

We study the correlation of the velocity dispersion of the coexisting molecules H{sup 13}CN and H{sup 13}CO{sup +} and the turbulent energy dissipation scale in the DR21(OH) star-forming region. The downshift of the H{sup 13}CO{sup +} spectrum relative to H{sup 13}CN is consistent with the presence of ambipolar diffusion at dissipation length scales that helps the process of turbulent energy dissipation, but at a different cutoff for ions compared with the neutrals. We use our observational data to calculate a turbulent ambipolar diffusion length scale L' {approx_equal} 17 mpc and a strength of B{sub pos} {approx_equal} 1.7 mG for the plane of the sky component of the magnetic field in DR21(OH).

• OSTI ID: 21460102
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 720; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
AMBIPOLAR DIFFUSION
DIFFUSION
ENERGY LOSSES
LOSSES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
STARS
TURBULENCE