Mathematics
Scientific paper
Jun 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001phdt.........2h&link_type=abstract
PhD Thesis, Naturwissenschaftlich-Mathematische Gesamtfakultät der Universität Heidelberg, Germany. 75 p. (2001)
Mathematics
Molecular Clouds: Turbulence, Molecular Clouds: Fragmentation, Star Formation
Scientific paper
In order to increase the understanding of the role turbulence plays in the process of star formation, this work tries to find answers to the following three questions:(1) Can magnetized supersonic turbulence prevent the collapse of a gravitationally unstable molecular cloud region? (2) How can we reliably estimate the magnetic field strengths in turbulent molecular clouds? (3) Can externally generated Alfvén waves drive turbulence in molecular clouds prior to star formation? In the first part of this thesis we find that turbulence can stabilize a molecular cloud globally, but not locally, as long as the magnetic fields are supercritical and the driving scale is larger than the smallest Jeans length in the problem. Thus turbulence cannot prevent star formation. The second part of this thesis presents a modification of the classical Chandrasekhar-Fermi-method to estimate the field strength in a turbulent medium. We propose a modification to the method, a recipe and a correction method, all of which improved field strength estimates and may be useful for observers. Finally, we find in the thesis' third part that Alfvén waves are too inefficient to drive supersonic turbulence externally in molecular clouds. Although Alfvén waves may contribute to the random motions, magnetosonic waves are certainly more viable candidates.
No associations
LandOfFree
Turbulence and fragmentation in molecular clouds does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Turbulence and fragmentation in molecular clouds, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Turbulence and fragmentation in molecular clouds will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-796014