Ionization front-driven turbulence in the clumpy interstellar medium
Astrophysics
2008-12-17 v1
Abstract
We present 3D radiation-gasdynamical simulations of an ionization front running into a dense clump. In our setup, a B0 star irradiates an overdensity which is at a distance of 10 pc and modelled as a supercritical 100 M_sol Bonnor-Ebert sphere. The radiation from the star heats up the gas and creates a shock front that expands into the interstellar medium. The shock compresses the clump material while the ionizing radiation heats it up. The outcome of this "cloud-crushing" process is a fully turbulent gas in the wake of the clump. In the end, the clump entirely dissolves. We propose that this mechanism is very efficient in creating short-living supersonic turbulence in the vicinity of massive stars.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0808.2744,
title = {Ionization front-driven turbulence in the clumpy interstellar medium},
author = {Thomas Peters and Robi Banerjee and Ralf S. Klessen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0808.2744},
year = {2008}
}