Supersonic Turbulence and Structure of Interstellar Molecular Clouds
Abstract
The interstellar medium provides a unique laboratory for highly supersonic, driven hydrodynamic turbulence. We propose a theory of such turbulence, test it by numerical simulations, and use the results to explain observational scaling properties of interstellar molecular clouds, the regions where stars are born.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- July 2002
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.031102
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0203452
- Bibcode:
- 2002PhRvL..89c1102B
- Keywords:
-
- Astrophysics;
- Nonlinear Sciences - Chaotic Dynamics;
- Physics - Fluid Dynamics
- E-Print:
- 5 pages, 3 figures included