Kinematics of spherical waves in interstellar gas clouds

Abstract

In this paper, a system of partial differential equations describing an inviscid, one dimensional, self-gravitating and spherically symmetric interstellar gas cloud is considered. An infinite set of transport equations is obtained by using the method based on the kinematics of one dimensional motion of shock waves. A truncation procedure is used to put an end to infinite hierarchy of equations. The first three truncated equations (i.e. zeroth, first and second orders) describing shock strength and the induced discontinuities are considered and used to study the growth and decay of shock waves in the medium.