Related papers: Turbulent Driving Scales in Molecular Clouds
(Abridged) The formation of molecular clouds (MCs) from the diffuse interstellar gas appears to be a necessary step for star formation, as young stars invariably occur within them. However, the mechanisms controlling the formation of MCs…
The mechanisms that maintain turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM) are still not identified. This work investigates how we can distinguish between two fundamental driving mechanisms: the accumulated effect of stellar feedback versus…
Giant molecular clouds contain supersonic turbulence and simulations of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence show that these supersonic motions decay in roughly a crossing time, which is less than the estimated lifetimes of molecular clouds. Such…
Protostellar outflows crisscross the regions of star cluster formation, stirring turbulence and altering the evolution of the forming cluster. We model the stirring of turbulent motions by protostellar outflows, building on an observation…
In the multi-scale view of the star formation process the material flows from large molecular clouds down to clumps and cores. In this paradigm it is still unclear if it is gravity or turbulence that drives the observed supersonic…
We use three-dimensional simulations to study the statistics of supersonic turbulence in molecular clouds. Our numerical experiments describe driven turbulent flows with an isothermal equation of state, Mach numbers around 10, and various…
We examine the idea that diffuse and giant molecular clouds and their substructure form as density fluctuations induced by large scale interstellar turbulence. We do this by investigating the topology of various fields in realistic…
The amplification of magnetic fields is crucial for understanding the observed magnetization of stars and galaxies. Turbulent dynamo is the primary mechanism responsible for that but the understanding of its action in a collapsing…
We use three-dimensional numerical simulations to study self-organization in supersonic turbulence in molecular clouds. Our numerical experiments describe decaying and driven turbulent flows with an isothermal equation of state, sonic Mach…
The universality of interstellar turbulence is examined from observed structure functions of 27 giant molecular clouds and Monte Carlo modeling. We show that the structure functions, dv=v0 l^gamma, derived from wide field imaging of CO…
Understanding the star formation process is central to much of modern astrophysics. For several decades it has been thought that stellar birth is primarily controlled by the interplay between gravity and magnetostatic support, modulated by…
Understanding the physics of turbulence is crucial for many applications, including weather, industry, and astrophysics. In the interstellar medium (ISM), supersonic turbulence plays a crucial role in controlling the gas density and…
The nature and origin of turbulence and magnetic fields in the intergalactic space are important problems that are yet to be understood. We propose a scenario in which turbulent flow motions are induced via the cascade of the vorticity…
We revisit the origin of Larson's scaling relations, which describe the structure and kinematics of molecular clouds, based on recent observations and large-scale simulations of supersonic turbulence. Using dimensional analysis, we first…
The kinetic energy of supersonic turbulence within interstellar clouds is subject to cooling by dissipation in shocks and subsequent line radiation. The clouds are therefore susceptible to a condensation process controlled by the specific…
Turbulent fragmentation determines where and when protostellar cores form, and how they contract and grow in mass from the surrounding cloud material. Molecular cloud regions without turbulent driving sources, or where turbulence is driven…
Under the basic assumption that the observed turbulent motions in molecular clouds are Alfvenic waves or turbulence, we emphasize that the Doppler broadening of molecular line profiles directly measures the velocity amplitudes of the waves…
We study, by means of adaptive mesh refinement hydro- and magnetohydrodynamical simulations that cover a wide range of scales (from kpc to sub-parsec), the dimension of the most dissipative structures and the injection scale of the…
Turbulence is ubiquitous in the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Milky Way and other spiral galaxies. The energy source for this turbulence has been much debated with many possible origins proposed. The universality of turbulence, its…
To study how supernova feedback structures the turbulent interstellar medium, we construct 3D models of vertically stratified gas stirred by discrete supernova explosions, including vertical gravitational field and parametrized heating and…