Detailed Structure of Low-Density Molecular Gas in High-Latitude Clouds

Details Detailed Structure of Low-Density Molecular Gas in High-Latitude Clouds Detailed Structure of Low-Density Molecular Gas in High-Latitude Clouds

Feb 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002apj...565.1050s&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 565, Issue 2, pp. 1050-1059.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

11

Ism: Clouds, Ism: Kinematics And Dynamics, Ism: Molecules, Ism: Structure, Shock Waves, Turbulence

Scientific paper

Extensive strip-scan observations of three high-latitude clouds- MBM 32, MBM 54, and MBM 55-were carried out in 12CO J=1-0 emission with an angular resolution of 15", or 0.0072 pc (1500 AU) at 100 pc. We resolved clumps with sizes from ~0.2 pc down to ~0.02 pc. Most of them have low gas density (<~102 cm-3) and sizes significantly smaller than their corresponding Jeans lengths. Some of them are well-isolated from the rest of the molecular components, suggesting their (quasi-) stable dynamical state. They provide a clear case for structure formation not caused by gravitational contraction and are most likely formed through thermal instability in interstellar shocks. We unexpectedly discovered in the position-velocity diagrams a number of localized velocity shifts. Their typical size is 0.05 pc, and some of them exhibit a velocity gradient of ~40 km s-1 pc-1, which is among the largest ever observed in non-star-forming clouds. None of them have young stellar objects in their vicinity. Contraction of shock-compressed gas may produce rapidly rotating/contracting, but apparently unbound, clumps. These features may provide more evidence for structure formation through thermal instability of shocked gas.

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