Radiation-driven implosions in molecular clouds

Abstract

view Abstract Citations (123) References (29) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Radiation-driven implosions in molecular clouds. Sandford, M. T., II ; Whitaker, R. W. ; Klein, R. I. Abstract Two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic calculations of the interaction of ionization and shock fronts with a geometrical inhomogeneity in a molecular cloud show these regions to consist of low density mass clumps of less than two solar masses, for which self-gravity is negligible and in which radiation transport is both angle- and frequency-dependent. Ionizing stellar radiation and density variations in molecular cloud models generate a convergent shock whose resulting mass concentration densities are greater than those expected from one-dimensional compressions, where the masses and the concentration-increase time scales depend on initial density variation geometry and ionizing stellar radiation intensity. The present calculations suggest that the cloud environment near clusters like the OB stellar associations may influence subsequent star formation within the cloud. An analytic treatment of the isothermal interacting shocks is given. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: September 1982 DOI: 10.1086/160245 Bibcode: 1982ApJ...260..183S Keywords: Hydrodynamics; Interstellar Matter; Molecular Clouds; Radiation Pressure; Shock Waves; Gas Ionization; Hydrogen Ions; Radiative Transfer; Shock Fronts; Shock Wave Interaction; Stellar Radiation; Astrophysics full text sources ADS |