Can giant molecular clouds form in spiral arms

Details Can giant molecular clouds form in spiral arms Can giant molecular clouds form in spiral arms

Jun 1982

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1982a%26a...110..287c&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 110, no. 2, June 1982, p. 287-294.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

60

Astronomical Models, Interstellar Matter, Molecular Clouds, Molecular Collisions, Spiral Galaxies, Coalescing, Galactic Evolution, Galactic Rotation, Mass Spectra, Steady State

Scientific paper

A quantitative study is made of the efficiency of molecular cloud collisions and coalescence in forming Giant Molecular Clouds (GMC). Hypothesizing that these GMC have a short lifetime (4 x 10 to the 7th yr), it is shown that they still have time to be formed substantially in spiral arms. At galactic radii where the rotation period is long enough (that is, in the molecular ring) GMC are shown to be much more concentrated in spiral arms than the mean distribution of interstellar matter. For a gas density contrast of the underlying spiral pattern of 5, the mass contained in GMC is 10 times greater in the arms than in the interarm regions. The ensemble of molecular clouds never attains a steady state in its rotation around the galactic center and cannot be considered fluid. It is noted that the mass and velocity distributions derived in this model are compatible with available molecular observations.

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