Related papers: Gravity or turbulence? II. Evolving column density…
The evolution of molecular clouds in galactic centres is thought to differ from that in galactic discs due to a significant influence of the external gravitational potential. We present a set of numerical simulations of molecular clouds…
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…
Simulated dark matter profiles are often modelled as a `NFW' density profile rather than a single power law. Recently, attention has turned to the rather rigorous power-law behaviour exhibited by the `pseudo phase-space density' of the dark…
Recent observational evidence that magnetic fields are dynamically important in molecular clouds, compared to self-gravity and turbulence, is reviewed and illustrated with data from the NGC 2024 region. One piece of evidence, turbulence…
We study the statistical properties of the gravitational field generated by galaxy distribution observed bythe Sloan Digital Sky Survey (DR7). We characterize the probability density function of gravitational force fluctuations and relate…
We present a method to derive the density scaling relation $\langle n\rangle \propto L^{-\alpha}$ in regions of star formation or in their turbulent vicinities from straightforward binning of the column-density distribution ($N$-pdf). The…
Complex turbulent motions of magnetized gas are ubiquitous in the interstellar medium. The source of this turbulence, however, is still poorly understood. Previous work suggests that compression caused by supernova shockwaves, gravity, or…
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 propose a new, physically motivated fitting function for density PDFs in turbulent gas. Although it is known that when gas is isothermal, the PDF is approximately lognormal in the core, high-resolution simulations show large deviations…
The gravitational evolution of the cosmic one-point probability distribution function (PDF) has been estimated using an analytic approximation that combines gravitational perturbation theory with the Edgeworth expansion around a Gaussian…
Describing how the properties of the interstellar medium combine across size-scales is crucial for understanding star formation scaling laws and connecting Galactic and extragalactic data of molecular clouds. We describe how the statistical…
Turbulence is a mysterious phenomenon in physical systems and plays a critical role in the interstellar medium (ISM). Previous simulations and observations have shown that the probability density functions (PDFs) of gas densities in…
Compressive isothermal turbulence is known to have a near lognormal density probability distribution function (PDF) with a width that scales with the sonic Mach number and nature of the turbulent driving (solenoidal vs compressive).…
Supersonic flows in the interstellar medium (ISM) are believed to be a key driver of the molecular cloud formation and evolution. Among molecular clouds' properties, the ratio between the solenoidal and compressive modes of turbulence plays…
Externally driven interstellar turbulence plays an important role in shaping the density structure in molecular clouds. Here we study the dynamical role of internally driven turbulence in a self-gravitating molecular cloud core. Depending…
The formation of astrophysical structures, such as stars, compact objects but also galaxies, entail an,enhancement of densities by many orders of magnitude which occurs through gravitational collapse. The role played by turbulence during…
The majority of stars are thought to form in clusters. Cluster formation in dense clumps of molecular clouds is strongly influenced, perhaps controlled, by supersonic turbulence. We have previously shown that the turbulence in regions of…
In this article we extend the study performed in our previous article on the collapse of primordial objects. We here analyze the behavior of the physical parameters for clouds ranging from $10^7M_\odot$ to $10^{15}M_\odot$. We studied the…
We present three numerical simulations of randomly driven, isothermal, non-magnetic, self-gravitating turbulence with different rms Mach numbers Ms and physical sizes L, but approximately the same value of the virial parameter, alpha approx…
The formation of stars shapes the structure and evolution of entire galaxies. The rate and efficiency of this process are affected substantially by the density structure of the individual molecular clouds in which stars form. The most…