Related papers: On the Structure of the Turbulent Interstellar Clo…
The molecular component of the Galaxy is comprised of turbulent, magnetized clouds, many of which are self-gravitating and form stars. To understand how these clouds' evolution may depend on their level of turbulence, mean magnetization,…
Turbulence is a widely observed state of fluid flows, characterized by complex, nonlinear interactions between motions across a broad spectrum of length and time scales. While turbulence is ubiquitous, from teacups to planetary atmospheres,…
The observational record of turbulence within the molecular gas phase of the interstellar medium is summarized. We briefly review the analysis methods used to recover the velocity structure function from spectroscopic imaging and the…
It has been recently shown that molecular clouds do not exhibit a unique shape for the column density probability distribution function (Npdf). Instead, clouds without star formation seem to possess a lognormal distribution, while clouds…
{It has recently been proposed that giant molecular complexes form at the sites where streams of diffuse warm atomic gas collide at transonic velocities.} {We study the global statistics of molecular clouds formed by large scale colliding…
We study the linear evolution of small perturbations in self-gravitating fluid systems in two spatial dimensions; we consider both cylindrical and cartesian (i.e., slab) geometries. The treatment is general, but the application is to…
We extend recent numerical results (Dobbs et. al. 2006) on molecular cloud formation in spiral galaxies by including a multi-phase medium. The addition of a hot phase of gas enhances the structure in the cold gas, and significantly…
Using 3D hydrodynamic calculations we simulate formation of molecular clouds in the Galaxy. The simulations take into account molecular hydrogen chemical kinetics, cooling and heating processes. Comprehensive gravitational potential…
The diffuse interstellar medium is dynamic, and its chemistry and evolution is determined by shock fronts as well as photodissociation. Shocks are implied by the supersonic motions and velocity dispersion often statistically called…
Turbulent fragmentation determines where and when protostellar cores form, and how they contract and grow in mass from the surrounding cloud material. This process is investigated, using numerical models of self-gravitating molecular cloud…
We develop an unconditionally stable numerical method for solving the coupling between two fluids (frictional forces/heatings, ionization, and recombination), and investigate the dynamical condensation process of thermally unstable gas that…
The growth by condensation of small water droplets in a three-dimensional homogeneous isotropic turbulent flow is considered. Within a simple model of advection and condensation, the dynamics and growth of millions of droplets are…
It is believed that turbulence may have a significant impact on star formation and the dynamics and evolution of the molecular clouds in which this occurs. It is also known that non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic effects influence the nature of…
This two-part review summarizes interstellar turbulence and its implications. The first part begins with diagnostics and energy sources. Turbulence theory is considered in detail, including the basic fluid equations, solenoidal and…
We present two dimensional cylindrically symmetric hydrodynamic simulations and synthetic emission maps of a stellar wind propagating into an infalling, rotating environment. The resulting outflow morphology, collimation and stability…
We investigate the interplay between the ionization radiation from massive stars and the turbulence inside the surrounding molecular gas thanks to 3D numerical simulations. We used the 3D hydrodynamical code HERACLES to model an initial…
Molecular clouds (MC) are structures of dense gas in the interstellar medium (ISM), that extend from ten to a few hundred parsecs and form the main gas reservoir available for star formation. Hydrodynamical simulations of varying complexity…
Galactic and intergalactic flows often exhibit relative motion between the cold dense gas and the hot diffuse medium. Such multiphase flows -- involving gas at different temperatures, densities, and ionization states -- for instance,…
(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…
We study the formation of giant dense cloud complexes and of stars within them by means of SPH numerical simulations of the mildly supersonic collision of gas streams (``inflows'') in the warm neutral medium (WNM). The resulting…