Physics – Atomic Physics
Scientific paper
Jan 1985
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1985apj...288...50s&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 288, Jan. 1, 1985, p. 50-57.
Physics
Atomic Physics
34
Abundance, Interstellar Gas, Metallicity, Nebulae, Phase Transformations, Atomic Physics, Emission Spectra, Phase Diagrams, Scaling Laws, X Ray Astronomy
Scientific paper
The cloud-intercloud phase transition of interstellar gas in pressure equilibrium is investigated, including effects of metal abundance variations, grain heating, and X-ray fluxes from the Galactic halo. Equilibrium solutions for the gas pressure P and hydrogen density nH obey fairly universal scaling laws, plotted as (PD/zeta) versus (nHD/zeta), where zeta is the cosmic-ray ionization rate and D is the metal-abundance enhancement factor. Both grain and X-ray heating enhance the susceptibility of intercloud gas to thermal instability, possibly resulting in the conversion of intercloud gas to clouds in the inner disks of spiral galaxies. X-ray ionization may be responsible for a class of C IV - Si IV absorption lines seen above the Galactic disk and in quasar absorption systems.
Shull Michael J.
Woods Tod D.
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