Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aas...180.4306b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 180th AAS Meeting, #43.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 24, p.797
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
A stratified interstellar gas layer with a magnetic field parallel to the galactic plane is unstable with respect to deformations of the field lines, provided that an instability criteria is satisfied. We study the nonlinear evolution of such a system with a two-dimensional MHD code. Eventually the system settles into final (two-dimensional) equilibrium states. Several unstable wavelengths are investigated, as well as perturbations with both ``even'' and ``odd'' symmetry of the field lines about the galactic plane. The odd modes exhibit field lines which cross the galactic plane, evolve more rapidly than their even counterparts, and enable the system to more greatly reduce its gravitational potential energy by draining matter from high altitudes toward the galactic plane along deformed (arching) field lines. The total magnetic energy of the system is found to remain nearly fixed in all cases. Diffuse gas condensations typically separated by 0.5 - 1 kpc are formed. This process may be responsible for interstellar cloud formation, in agreement with observations which show molecular cloud complexes, OB stellar associations and associated giant HII regions lined up like ``beads on a string'' along spiral arms.
Basu Sarbani
Mouschovias Telemachos Ch.
Paleologou Euthimios V.
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