What Shapes the Structure of Molecular Clouds: Turbulence or Gravity?

Details What Shapes the Structure of Molecular Clouds: Turbulence or Gravity? What Shapes the Structure of Molecular Clouds: Turbulence or Gravity?

2011-11-11

arxiv.org/abs/1111.2827v2

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Galaxy Astrophysics

5 pages, 4 color figures; revised version to appear in ApJ Letters

Scientific paper

We revisit the origin of Larson's scaling relations, which describe the structure and kinematics of molecular clouds, based on recent observations and large-scale simulations of supersonic turbulence. Using dimensional analysis, we first show that both linewidth-size and mass-size correlations observed on scales 0.1-50 pc can be explained by a simple conceptual theory of compressible turbulence without resorting to the often assumed virial equilibrium or detailed energy balance condition. The scaling laws can be consistently interpreted as a signature of supersonic turbulence with no need to invoke gravity. We then show how self-similarity of structure established by the turbulence breaks in star-forming clouds through development of gravitational instabilities in the vicinity of the sonic scale, l_s~0.1 pc, leading to the formation of prestellar cores.

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