Two-dimensional perturbations of the accelerated motion of inhomogeneous gas layers and shells in the interstellar medium

Abstract

The evolution of perturbations in a two-layer spherical shell and a plane layer with a two-step density distribution has been simulated numerically. The clumps formed by instability are shown to have qualitatively different structures, depending on the ratio of the densities in the inner and outer layers of the shell. Inhomogeneities bordered by a dense gas are formed in shells with an outwardly decreasing density. If, however, a denser gas is in the outer layer, then cores surrounded by a more rarefied material appear. These results are used to analyze the expansion of the HII region RCW 82. Since the inhomogeneities observed in the 13CO emission in the outer parts of this region have sharply delineated boundaries, our calculations argue for the model of the expansion of a shell with an outwardly decreasing density. The interaction of an accelerating shell with clumps in front of it has also been investigated. The deformations of a clump during its penetration into the shell and the formation of a groove in the shell gradually fillingwith a cold gas have been revealed. Thereafter, the shell material collapses to form a cumulative jet. As applied to the HII region RCW 82, we conclude that the existence of jets is possible if there are inhomogeneities with a scale of ∼1018 cm in the interstellar medium. The lack of data on such jet flows at the boundary of this region is an additional argument for the model where the inhomogeneous structure of the boundaries is attributable to the development of Rayleigh-Taylor instability.