The fragmentation of molecular clouds. I - The mass-radius-velocity dispersion relations

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

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Fragmentation, Gravitational Effects, Interstellar Matter, Molecular Clouds, Gas Dynamics, Hydrogen Clouds, Many Body Problem, Scaling Laws

Scientific paper

It is now well established from observations that the mass M, the radius R and the internal velocity dispersion, Δv, of molecular clouds are strongly correlated by definite scaling laws, first noticed by Larson (1981): M ∝ R2, Δv ∝ R1/2. In this paper it is shown that interstellar clouds which are close to gravitational instability exhibit precisely the same scaling laws, provided that they interact with a constant pressure environment. The author suggests that these conditions may trigger the fragmentation of clouds, which, in this picture, occurs prior to collapse. Furthermore, fragments or clumps may in turn experience gravitational instability and further fragmentation, leading to the formation of a hierarchy of embedded subsystems of clumps governed by the aforementioned scaling laws.

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