Model of clumped molecular clouds. II - Physics and evolution of the hierarchical structure

Details Model of clumped molecular clouds. II - Physics and evolution of the hierarchical structure Model of clumped molecular clouds. II - Physics and evolution of the hierarchical structure

Jul 1986

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1986a%26a...162..235f&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 162, no. 1-2, July 1986, p. 235-247.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

97

Astrophysics, Interstellar Matter, Molecular Clouds, Stellar Models, Energy Transfer, Kinematics, Kinetic Energy, Magnetohydrodynamic Waves, Turbulence

Scientific paper

A theoretical model is developed for the mechanisms which cause large internal velocity dispersions within large molecular cloud complexes in the contracting phase preceding the formation of massive stars. The cloud masses average about 100 solar masses spread out over several parsecs. The complexes begin fragmented into thousands of small clouds that sometimes form low mass stars. Energy cascades from large to small scales and the complex contracts slowly without ever reaching catastrophic collapse. The prime energy source for the clouds is gravitational potential energy when the clouds are quasi-virialized. Energy pumped from the orbital motions of the clouds and returned to the clouds along the magnetic field lines stabilizes the clouds against gravitational collapse. Lifetimes of cloud complexes are limited to about 30 Myr due to cloud-cloud collisions, which may eventually lead to catastrophic collapse in compacted clouds which have attained masses of several thousand solar masses.

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