Characterizing the turbulent properties of the starless molecular cloud MBM 16

Journal Article · Tue Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/779/1/36· OSTI ID:22348549

Pingel, N. M.; Stanimirović, Snezana; Lee, Min-Young; Lazarian, Alex; Burkhart, Blakesley; Lawrence, Allen; Murray, Claire ^[1]; Peek, J. E. G.; Grcevich, Jana; Putman, Mary E.; Saul, Destry ^[2]; Begum, Ayesha ^[3]; Douglas, Kevin A. ^[4]; Heiles, Carl; Korpela, Eric J. ^[5]

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1. Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 475 North Charter Street, Madison, WI 53706 (United States)
2. Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States)
3. Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, ITI Campus (Gas Rahat) Building, Govindpura, Bhopal- 23 (India)
4. University of Calgary/Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, P.O. Box 248, Penticton, BC V2A6J9 (Canada)
5. Astronomy Department and Space Science Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94703 (United States)

We investigate turbulent properties of the non-star-forming, translucent molecular cloud MBM 16 by applying the statistical technique of a two-dimensional spatial power spectrum (SPS) on the neutral hydrogen (H I) observations obtained by the Galactic Arecibo L-Band Feed Array H I survey. The SPS, calculated over the range of spatial scales from 0.1 to 17 pc, is well represented with a single power-law function, with a slope ranging from –3.3 to –3.7 and being consistent over the velocity range of MBM 16 for a fixed velocity channel thickness. However, the slope varies significantly with the velocity slice thickness, suggesting that both velocity and density contribute to H I intensity fluctuations. By using this variation, we estimate the slope of three-dimensional density fluctuations in MBM 16 to be –3.7 ± 0.2. This is significantly steeper than what has been found for H I in the Milky Way plane, the Small Magellanic Cloud, or the Magellanic Bridge, suggesting that interstellar turbulence in MBM 16 is driven on scales >17 pc and that the lack of stellar feedback could be responsible for the steep power spectrum.

• OSTI ID: 22348549
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 779, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
DENSITY
FEEDBACK
FLUCTUATIONS
GASES
HYDROGEN
MAGELLANIC CLOUDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MILKY WAY
MOLECULES
SPECTRA
STARS
THICKNESS
TURBULENCE
VELOCITY