Magnetic diffusion in clumpy molecular clouds

Details Magnetic diffusion in clumpy molecular clouds Magnetic diffusion in clumpy molecular clouds

Jun 1992

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992a%26a...259..232e&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 259, no. 1, p. 232-240.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

13

Interstellar Matter, Magnetic Diffusion, Molecular Clouds, Star Formation, Shock Wave Interaction, Stellar Magnetic Fields

Scientific paper

Magnetic diffusion in a clumpy cloud is slower than in a uniform cloud with the same average density and field strength, by the square root of the clump filling factor, f. This implies that giant molecular clouds can maintain their supporting magnetic fields for at least 6/sq rt f free fall times, while allowing a moderate rate of star formation in the dense cores. The f dependence also implies that clouds or cloud cores larger than a thermal Jeans mass will lose their flux more slowly compared to the free-fall time than smaller cores because the larger regions have supersonic virialized motions, and this inevitably leads to small scale clumpy structure by nonlinear effects. Thus star formation may proceed rapidly via diffusion in uniform cores that have primarily thermal motions (large f), while the surrounding clumpy cloud can be supported by the field for a relatively long time (small f). The slower magnetic diffusion rate for clumpy clouds compared to uniform clouds also affects the local heating rate for neutral gas in a shock, giving more of a J-type than C-type structure by shortening the magnetic precursor and causing clump collisions at speeds exceeding the internal Alfven speed.

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