Abstract
The M17SW molecular cloud core has been mapped with a linear resolution of 0.2 pc in the J=3→2 lines of HCO + and HCN, using the JCMT. The HCO + and HCN maps are very similar in large-scale structure, with both molecules tracing the clumpy nature of the cloud core, but a detailed comparison reveals an anticorrelation of these clumps indicative of the different excitation of the two molecules. Analysis of the intensity distributions, using power spectrum and autocorrelation function techniques, indicates the presence of structure in both lines, on all scales down to the resolution limit of the telescope. The ACF of the velocity centroid fluctuations closely reproduces the ACF of turbulent gas motions in the cloud and reveals a correlation length ≤0.25 pc. The turbulent pressure and maximum energy dissipation rate are derived as functions of scalesize, and the relationship is markedly different from that assumed in standard turbulent cascade models
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