Abstract
Interstellar shock waves have a significant influence on the structure and dynamics of interstellar matter and probably trigger star formation in suitably dense regions. In this paper the overall structure of regions near shock waves is reviewed. In addition we discuss the main observational effects of shocks on interstellar molecules, including: (i) acceleration to velocities 1 km s-1 < vs < 100 km s-1 relative to the ambient gas, (ii) excitation of infrared lines in the heated postshock gas, and (iii) production of high abundances of certain molecular species such as H, OH, H2O, CH+, OCS, and SiO through high temperature chemical reactions in the T ≳ 1000 K postshock gas. The molecular region around the BN infrared source in Orion and the high velocity molecules in IC443 are discussed as possible examples of shocked molecular gas.
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