Related papers: Tracing the general structure of Galactic molecula…
The shape of the probability distribution function (PDF) of molecular clouds is an important ingredient for modern theories of star formation and turbulence. Recently, several studies have pointed out observational difficulties with…
Within ten nearby (d < 450 pc) Gould Belt molecular clouds we evaluate statistically the relative orientation between the magnetic field projected on the plane of sky, inferred from the polarized thermal emission of Galactic dust observed…
In this Letter we investigate the shape of the probability distribution of column densities (PDF) in molecular clouds. Through the use of low-noise, extinction-calibrated \textit{Herschel}/\textit{Planck} emission data for eight molecular…
The structure of molecular clouds can be characterized with the probability distribution function (PDF) of the mass surface density. In particular, the properties of the distribution can reveal the nature of the turbulence and star…
$Context.$ The traditional approach to characterize the structure of molecular clouds is to map their line emission. $Aims.$ We aim to test and apply a stratified random sampling technique that can characterize the line emission from…
We present N-PDFs of 29 Galactic regions obtained from Herschel imaging at high angular resolution, covering diffuse and quiescent clouds, and those showing low-, intermediate-, and high-mass star formation (SF), and characterize the cloud…
The evolution of molecular interstellar clouds is a complex, multi-scale process. The power-law density exponent describes the steepness of density profiles, and it has been used to characterize the density structures of the clouds yet its…
We study the observable signatures of self-gravitating MHD turbulence by applying the probability density functions (PDFs) and the spatial density power spectrum to synthetic column density maps. We find that there exists three…
Characterizing the spatial and velocity structure of molecular clouds is a first step towards a better understanding of interstellar turbulence and its link to star formation. We present observations and structure analysis results for a…
The magnetic field strength in molecular clouds is a fundamental quantity for theories of star formation. It is estimated by Zeeman splitting measurements in a few dense molecular cores, but its volume--averaged value within large molecular…
(Abridged) We derive an analytical formula which provides estimates on multiscale gravitational energy distribution using the observed surface density PDF. Our analytical formalism also enables one to convert the observed column density PDF…
The probability distribution function (PDF) of the mass surface density of molecular clouds provides essential information about the structure of molecular cloud gas and condensed structures out of which stars may form. In general, the PDF…
We present optical depth and temperature maps of the Perseus molecular cloud, obtained combining dust emission data from the Herschel and Planck satellites and 2MASS/NIR dust extinction maps. The maps have a resolution of 36 arcsec in the…
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…
Both observational and theoretical research over the past decade has demonstrated that the probability distribution function (PDF) of the gas density in turbulent molecular clouds is a key ingredient for understanding star formation. It has…
We present a systematic analysis of the velocity structure functions (VSFs) of 167 molecular clouds with angular sizes greater than $\sim$176 arcmin$^2$ in three sectors of the Galactic mid-plane. We calculated the 1st- to 3rd-order VSFs…
We have obtained column density maps for an unbiased sample of 120 molecular clouds in the third quadrant of the Milky Way mid-plane (b$\le |5|^{\circ}$) within the galactic longitude range from 195$^{\circ}$ to 225$^{\circ}$, using the…
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…
[abridged] The interstellar medium is now widely recognized to display features ascribable to magnetized turbulence. With the public release of Planck data and the current balloon-borne and ground-based experiments, the growing amount of…
Constraining the physical and chemical evolution of molecular clouds is essential to our understanding of star formation. These investigations often necessitate knowledge of some local representative number density of the gas along the line…