Related papers: On the structure of molecular clouds
Aims: We derive the probability density functions (PDFs) of column density for a complete sample of prominent molecular cloud complexes closer than 200 pc. Methods: We derive near-infrared dust extinction maps for 23 molecular cloud…
The probability distribution function (PDF) of the mass surface density is an essential characteristic of the structure of molecular clouds or the interstellar medium in general. Observations of the PDF of molecular clouds indicate a…
Probability distribution functions (PDFs) of column densities are an established tool to characterize the evolutionary state of interstellar clouds. Using simulations, we show to what degree their determination is affected by noise,…
We discuss HD and MHD compressible turbulence as a cloud-forming and cloud-structuring mechanism in the ISM. Results from a numerical model of the turbulent ISM at large scales suggest that the phase-like appearance of the medium, the…
This paper is aimed at exploring implications of velocity dispersion scalings on high-mass star formation in molecular clouds, including the scalings of Larson's linewidth--size ($\sigma$--$R$) and ratio--mass surface density…
This study is aimed to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the molecular hydrogen distribution in the galaxy M33 by introducing novel methods for generating high angular resolution (18.2$''$, equivalent to 75 pc) column…
We briefly discuss the relevance of Lyman alpha forest observations for measuring cosmological parameters, comparing the properties of high z QSO spectra with those of artifical spectra from hydrodynamic simulations, based on hierarchical…
Although there are a wealth of column density tracers for both the molecular and diffuse interstellar medium, there are very few observational studies investigating the relationship between the density variance ($\sigma^2$) and the sonic…
In this paper, in the framework of the secondary infall model, the correlation between the central surface density and the halo core radius of galaxy, and cluster of galaxies, dark matter haloes was analyzed, this having recently been…
We aim to develop a new method to infer the sub-beam probability density function (PDF) of H2 column densities and the dense gas mass within molecular clouds using spatially unresolved observations of molecular emission lines in the 3 mm…
We compare the structure of star-forming molecular clouds in different regions of Orion A to determine how the column density probability distribution function (N-PDF) varies with environmental conditions such as the fraction of young…
{It is necessary to understand the dynamics of the atomic gas to use complex modeling and to carry out detailed comparisons between theoretical models and observations.}{In a companion paper, we present high resolution bidimensional…
A large number of astronomical phenomena exhibit remarkably similar scaling relations. The most well-known of these is the mass distribution $\mathrm{d} N/\mathrm{d} M\propto M^{-2}$ which (to first order) describes stars, protostellar…
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…
We conduct numerical experiments in which we systematically vary the initial density over four orders of magnitude and the turbulent velocity over a factor ten. In a companion paper, we investigate the dependence of this distribution on the…
The cross-section of sky occupied by a particular neutral hydrogen column density provides insight into the nature of Lyman-alpha absorption systems. We have measured this column density distribution at z=0 using 21-cm HI emission from a…
Context. In order to understand the evolution of molecular clouds it is important to identify the departures from self-similarity associated with the scales of self-gravity and the driving of turbulence. Aims. A method is described based on…
The column density probability distribution function (N-PDF) of GMCs has been used as a diagnostic of star formation. Simulations and analytic predictions have suggested the N-PDF is composed of a low density lognormal component and a high…
We re-analyze the data of the BU-FCRAO $^{13}{\rm CO}$ Galactic Ring Survey (GRS) to understand the dynamics of the turbulent molecular interstellar medium. We define molecular clouds by their spatial half-power contours of $^{13}{\rm CO}$…
A key parameter to the description of all star formation processes is the density structure of the gas. In this letter, we make use of probability distribution functions (PDFs) of Herschel column density maps of Orion B, Aquila, and…