Related papers: A supersonic turbulence origin of Larson's laws
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…
Supersonic turbulence fragments the interstellar medium into dense sheets, filaments, cores and large low density voids. The turbulence is driven on large scales, probably predominantly by supernovae. The scaling properties of supersonic…
Supersonic turbulence is an essential element in understanding how structure within interstellar gas is created and shaped. In the context of star formation, many computational studies show that the mass spectrum of density and velocity…
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…
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 role of supersonic turbulence in structuring the interstellar medium (ISM) remains an unsettled question. Here, this problem is investigated using a newexact law of compressible isothermal hydrodynamic turbulence, which involves…
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…
From a new perspective, we re-examine self-gravity and turbulence jointly, in hopes of understanding the physical basis for one of the most important empirical relations governing clouds in the interstellar medium (ISM), the Larson's…
We present an analytical model of the relation between the surface density of gas and star formation rate in galaxies and clouds, as a function of the presence of supersonic turbulence and the associated structure of the interstellar…
Aim: To study turbulence in the Orion Molecular Cloud (OMC1) by comparing observed and simulated characteristics of the gas motions. Method: Using a dataset of vibrationally excited H2 emission in OMC1 containing radial velocity and…
Gravitational instabilities play a primary role in shaping the clumpy structure and powering the star formation activity of gas-rich high-redshift galaxies. Here we analyse the stability of such systems, focusing on the size and mass ranges…
The properties of supersonic isothermal turbulence influence a variety of astrophysical phenomena, including the structure and evolution of star forming clouds. This work presents a simple model for the structure of dense regions in…
Passive scalar mixing (metals, molecules, etc.) in the turbulent interstellar medium (ISM) is critical for abundance patterns of stars and clusters, galaxy and star formation, and cooling from the circumgalactic medium. However, the…
The Schmidt-Kennicutt relation links the surface densities of gas to the star formation rate in galaxies. The physical origin of this relation, and in particular its break, i.e. the transition between an inefficient regime at low gas…
Context. Supersonic disordered flows accompany the formation and evolution of MCs. It has been argued that turbulence can support against gravitational collapse and form hierarchical sub-structures. Aims. We study the time evolution of…
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…
A fundamental issue in star formation is understanding the precise mechanisms leading to the formation of prestellar cores, and their subsequent gravitationally unstable evolution. To address this question, we carefully construct a suite of…
Supersonic turbulence plays an important role in a number of extreme astrophysical and terrestrial environments, yet its understanding remains rudimentary. We use data from a three-dimensional simulation of supersonic isothermal turbulence…
Larson (1981) first noted a scaling relation between masses and sizes in molecular clouds that implies that these objects have approximately constant column densities. This original claim, based upon millimeter observations of carbon…
We explore the gravitational instability of clumpy and turbulent gas discs, taking into account the Larson-type scaling laws observed in giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and HI, as well as more general scaling relations. This degree of freedom…