Simulation of variations of absorption-line profiles in clumpy molecular clouds

Details Simulation of variations of absorption-line profiles in clumpy molecular clouds Simulation of variations of absorption-line profiles in clumpy molecular clouds

Oct 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994apj...433..705m&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 433, no. 2, p. 705-711

Computer Science

Numerical Analysis

9

Absorption Spectra, Computerized Simulation, Interstellar Matter, Line Shape, Mass Distribution, Molecular Clouds, Optical Thickness, Variations, Fractals, Normal Density Functions, Numerical Analysis, Statistical Analysis, Velocity Distribution

Scientific paper

We have carried out numerical simulations of spectral line optical depth profiles along narrow lines of sight in a clumpy molecular cloud. The cloud is modeled to have uniform excitation temperature and intraclump velocity dispersion, a clump size spectrum dN/dL varies as L-(D+1), where D is the fractal (Hausdorff) dimension and L is the clump size, and intraclump density n varies as L-1. Optical depth profiles are generated for successive lines of sight, each separated by the minimum clump size. These profiles are compared with the theoretical (i.e., corresponding to an infinite number of clumps along the line of sight) and best-fit Gaussian profiles. Analytical expressions are obtained to relate the mean square deviation from the best-fit Gaussian to the intraclump velocity dispersion and the mean number of clumps along each line of sight as well as expected change in equivalent width across adjacent lines of sight. The results of this study can be used to interpret observations of variations of absorption-line profiles toward compact continuum sources that lie behind interstellar clouds. The variations reported in the literature require a steeper value of the fractal dimension on AU scales, D greater than or equal to 1.5, than observed on parsec scales.

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