English

Universal Properties of Dense Clumps in Magnetized Molecular Clouds Formed through Shock Compression of Two-phase Atomic Gases

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2022-08-17 v2

Abstract

We investigate the formation of molecular clouds from atomic gas by using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical simulations,including non-equilibrium chemical reactions, heating/cooling processes, and self-gravity by changing the collision speed V0V_0 and the angle θ\theta between the magnetic field and colliding flow. We found that the efficiency of the dense gas formation depends on θ\theta. For small θ\theta, anisotropic super-Alfv\'enic turbulence delays the formation of gravitationally unstable clumps. An increase in θ\theta develops shock-amplified magnetic fields along which the gas is accumulated, making prominent filamentary structures. We further investigate the statistical properties of dense clumps identified with different density thresholds. The statistical properties of the dense clumps with lower densities depend on V0V_0 and θ\theta because their properties are inherited from the global turbulence structure of the molecular clouds. By contrast, denser clumps appear to have asymptotic universal statistical properties, which do not depend on the properties of the colliding flow significantly. The internal velocity dispersions approach subsonic and plasma β\beta becomes order of unity. We develop an analytic formula of the virial parameter which reproduces the simulation results reasonably well. This property may be one of the reasons for the universality of the initial mass function of stars.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2206.03627,
  title  = {Universal Properties of Dense Clumps in Magnetized Molecular Clouds Formed through Shock Compression of Two-phase Atomic Gases},
  author = {Kazunari Iwasaki and Kengo Tomida},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2206.03627},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

23 pages, 17 figures, accepted in ApJ