Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Aug 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004apj...611..919f&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 611, Issue 2, pp. 919-927.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
17
Ism: Dust, Extinction, Ism: General, Magnetohydrodynamics: Mhd, Turbulence
Scientific paper
Our ability to correct the observational photometry of galaxies depends on our knowledge of the attenuation of light produced by the dust contained in the interstellar medium. The magnitude and wavelength dependence of the attenuation produced by a turbulent dust screen depends primarily on the distribution of the column density, which is itself determined by the distribution of the local density. Here we provide quantitative estimates of the dependence of the variance σN of the column densities N on the structure of the local density ρ and show how this variance depends on the thickness Δ of a turbulent, dusty screen. We provide an analytical approximation for the variance in the limit of a thick slice in which the thickness Δ is larger than the maximum scale Lmax of the turbulent medium. Provided that the turbulence is Kolmogorov and the minimum scale is much smaller than Lmax, the variance in the limit of a thick slice is given by σN/=σρ/<ρ>[Lmax/(8Δ)]1/2, where and <ρ> are the means of the column density and the local density, respectively. We show that the density distribution can be well approximated by a lognormal function, provided that the variance σρ/<ρ> of the lognormal density distribution of the local density with the mean density <ρ> is not much larger than ~2.5.
Dopita Michael A.
Fischera Jörg
No associations
LandOfFree
The Column Density Distribution in Turbulent Interstellar Media 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 The Column Density Distribution in Turbulent Interstellar Media, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Column Density Distribution in Turbulent Interstellar Media will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1857849