Numerical Simulations of Molecular Turbulence
- Editore:
VDM Verlag Dr. Müller e.K.
- EAN:
9783639135275
- ISBN:
363913527X
- Pagine:
- 196
- Formato:
- Paperback
- Lingua:
- Tedesco
Descrizione Numerical Simulations of Molecular Turbulence
Over the last thirty years, substantial evidence hasaccumulated suggesting that supersonic turbulencedominates the motion of gas within molecularstar-forming clouds, and is the main factordetermining their internal density and velocitystructure.The present work has aimed to test the extent towhich simulations employing isothermal equation ofstate correctly model the behaviour of molecularturbulence, and investigate the impact of turbulenceon molecular dynamics. To achieve this, a numericalscheme is constructed, which couples the mostimportant chemical processes with a general purposehydrodynamical code (ZEUS-3D). It is found that theisothermal simulations reproduce correctly thedynamics of the molecular turbulence, and can be usedto predict properties of the molecular emission. Itis discovered that, given the supersonic dynamics,the chemical processes can be significantlyaccelerated, implying that molecular clouds may beundergoing both rapid dynamical and chemical changes.This work should be interesting to astronomersspecialising in the area of star formation, andanyone who wants get familiar with thestar formation theory.
