A CO survey of regions around 34 open clusters. II. Physical properties of cataloged molecular clouds

Journal Article · Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Astrophysical Journal; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/169067· OSTI ID:6481804

Leisawitz, D ^[1]

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1. NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (USA) Texas Univ., Austin (USA)

The physical properties of the 148 molecular clouds found in a CO survey of regions around 34 young open clusters have been examined. Expressions are given for the cloud size spectrum and the mass spectrum. The mass-radius relation implies that clouds of all size larger than a few pc have about the same mean volume density. Power laws with slopes of 0.6 and 3 describe, respectively, the relations of CO linewidth and cloud mass to cloud size. The clouds are distinctly nonspherical and appear to be randomly oriented with respect to the Galactic plane. The observations can be explained by a model for molecular clouds in which clouds are ensembles of dense clumps of gas. Based on such a model, it is shown that molecular clouds are perturbed on a time scale short compared to the time required for them to reestablish virial equilibrium. 79 refs.

• OSTI ID: 6481804
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal; (USA), Vol. 359; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COSMIC GASES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
CARBON MONOXIDE
EMISSION SPECTRA
LINE WIDTHS
MASS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MILKY WAY
MOLECULES
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
SIZE
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
STAR CLUSTERS
STAR EVOLUTION
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
DISTRIBUTION
FLUIDS
GALAXIES
GASES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SPACE
SPECTRA
640105* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Galaxies