Cloud fluid compression and softening in spiral arms and the formation of giant molecular cloud complexes

Details Cloud fluid compression and softening in spiral arms and the formation of giant molecular cloud complexes Cloud fluid compression and softening in spiral arms and the formation of giant molecular cloud complexes

Apr 1981

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1981apj...245...66c&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, vol. 245, Apr. 1, 1981, p. 66-71.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

78

Galactic Structure, Hydrodynamic Equations, Interstellar Gas, Molecular Clouds, Spiral Galaxies, Equations Of State, Galactic Evolution, Gas Density, Gravitational Collapse, Stellar Evolution

Scientific paper

With regard to the galactodynamics of the cloudy interstellar medium, the paper considers the response of such a gas to a forcing potential in the tight-winding density wave theory. The cloud fluid is treated in the hydrodynamic limit with an equation of state which softens at high densities. It is shown that in the inner regions of the galaxy, cooling of the cloud fluid in the arms can result in gravitational instability and the formation of large bound complexes of clouds which are identified with the giant molecular clouds (GMCs). Masses, dimensions, distributions, and scale heights of the GMCs are predicted by the theory. It is suggested that the interstellar gas density in the disk is regulated by the gravitational instability mechanism in the arms which siphons material into star formation. Implications for the evolution of individual GMCs and for galactic morphology are discussed.

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