TOWARD UNDERSTANDING THE ORIGIN OF TURBULENCE IN MOLECULAR CLOUDS: SMALL-SCALE STRUCTURES AS UNITS OF DYNAMICAL MULTI-PHASE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM
- Joint ALMA Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Santiago (Chile)
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1, Osawa, Miaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)
- Department of Physics and Mathematics, Aoyama Gakuin University, Fuchinobe, Sagamihara 229-8558 (Japan)
- Department of Astrophysics, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602 (Japan)
- Astronomisches Institut, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Universitaetsstr. 150, D-44801 Bochum (Germany)
- Astrophysikalisches Institut und Universitaets-Sternwarte Jena, Schillergaesschen 2-3, D-07745 Jena (Germany)
In order to investigate the origin of the interstellar turbulence, detailed observations in the CO J = 1-0 and 3-2 lines have been carried out in an interacting region of a molecular cloud with an H II region. As a result, several 1000-10,000 AU scale cloudlets with small velocity dispersion are detected, whose systemic velocities have a relatively large scatter of a few km s{sup -1}. It is suggested that the cloud is composed of small-scale dense and cold structures and their overlapping effect makes it appear to be a turbulent entity as a whole. This picture strongly supports the two-phase model of a turbulent medium driven by thermal instability proposed previously. On the surface of the present cloud, the turbulence is likely to be driven by thermal instability following ionization shock compression and UV irradiation. Those small-scale structures with line widths of {approx}0.6 km s{sup -1} have a relatively high CO line ratio of J 3-2 to 1-0, 1 {approx}< R{sub 3-2/1-0} {approx}< 2. The large velocity gradient analysis implies that the 0.6 km s{sup -1} width component cloudlets have an average density of 10{sup 3}-10{sup 4} cm{sup -3}, which is relatively high at cloud edges, but their masses are only {approx}< 0.05 M{sub Sun }.
- OSTI ID:
- 22039251
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 754, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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