Dynamic evolution and morphological analysis of supersonic turbulence arising during the collision of prolate and spherical clouds

Abstract

Our understanding of the formation and interaction processes of astronomical structures in the Universe and in galaxies has significantly expanded due to recent progress in improving the quality of observations, brought about by the emergence of new telescopes. Such processes are associated with the release of a significant amount of energy and may influence our vital activities. One example of energy flow release is magnetic storms, which are associated with processes occurring on the Sun. Such storms lead to disruptions of communication facilities, impact people, and can cause satellite and aircraft failures. There are objects in both near and deep space that are much more powerful than our star. In such objects, enormous energy flows are generated and released in the form of space jets. These energy flows occur in quasars, black holes, protostars, and during supernova explosions of types Ia, Ib, Ic, and II. During a supernova explosion, an immense amount of energy is released in the form of energy and high-energy particles. Such processes can have a significant impact on the safety of space flights. In this paper, the processes of formation of stellar systems within a turbulent interstellar medium are considered. This process is the result of complex processes that occur in the interstellar medium and denser gas formations – molecular clouds. At the same time, there are nonlinear interactions between turbulence and gravity, collisions between molecular clouds, interactions with shock waves, and so on. Supersonic turbulence is one of the main reasons for the formation of dynamic prestellar structures. The evolution of superdense substances formation begins when they gather in turbulent flows or are formed by supersonic collisions between molecular clouds. This process continues until these areas reach prestellar density. Depending on various factors, these superdense formations can either collapse and form new star systems or disintegrate, returning the substance to the interstellar medium. Until recently, the prevailing opinion was that a significant portions of molecular clouds were not gravitationally bound. Conclusions about this were made based on the virial theorem, which expresses the relationship between gravitational and kinetic energy. However, recent studies have refuted this. In this paper, the results of a simulation carried out to study the collision of large ellipsoidal and spherical molecular clouds in a three-dimensional setting. The simulation was conducted on high-resolution grids and utilized the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) method.