2015MNRAS.451.1056S -
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 451, 1056-1069 (2015/July-3)
Tracing the general structure of Galactic molecular clouds using Planck data - I. The Perseus region as a test case.
STANCHEV O., VELTCHEV T.V., KAUFFMANN J., DONKOV S., SHETTY R., KORTGEN B. and KLESSEN R.S.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present an analysis of probability distribution functions (pdfs) of column density in different zones of the star-forming region Perseus and its diffuse environment based on the map of dust opacity at 353 GHz available from the Planck archive. The pdf shape can be fitted by a combination of a lognormal function and an extended power-law tail at high densities, in zones centred at the molecular cloud Perseus. A linear combination of several lognormals fits very well the pdf in rings surrounding the cloud or in zones of its diffuse neighbourhood. The slope of the mean-density scaling law <ρ > L∝Lα is steep (α = -1.93) in the former case and rather shallow (α = -0.77±0.11) in the rings delineated around the cloud. We interpret these findings as signatures of two distinct physical regimes: (i) a gravoturbulent one which is characterized by nearly linear scaling of mass and practical lack of velocity scaling; and (ii) a predominantly turbulent one which is best described by steep velocity scaling and by invariant for compressible turbulence <ρ>_ L u_L^3/L, describing a scale-independent flux of the kinetic energy per unit volume through turbulent cascade. The gravoturbulent spatial domain can be identified with the molecular cloud Perseus while a relatively sharp transition to predominantly turbulent regime occurs in its vicinity.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2015 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society (2015)
Journal keyword(s):
turbulence - methods: data analysis - methods: statistical - ISM: clouds - ISM: structure - submillimetre: ISM
Simbad objects:
5
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