Turbulent Cooling Flows in Molecular Clouds

Abstract

We propose that inward, subsonic arise from the local dissipation of motions in molecular clouds. Such turbulent cooling flows may account for recent observations of spatially extended inward motions toward dense cores. These pressure-driven may arise from various types of turbulence and dissipation mechanisms. For the example of MHD waves and turbulence damped by ion-neutral friction, sustained cooling flow requires that the outer gas be sufficiently turbulent, that the inner gas have marginal field-neutral coupling, and that this coupling decrease sufficiently rapidly with increasing density. These conditions are most likely met at the transition between outer regions ionized primarily by UV photons and inner regions ionized primarily by cosmic rays. If so, cooling can help form dense cores, with speeds faster than expected for ambipolar diffusion. Such motions could reduce the time needed for dense core formation and could precede and enhance the motions of star-forming gravitational infall.