Abstract
We present a direct numerical and analytical study of driven supersonic MHD turbulence that is believed to govern the dynamics of star-forming molecular clouds. We describe statistical properties of the turbulence by measuring the velocity difference structure functions up to the fifth order. In particular, the velocity power spectrum in the inertial range is found to be close to E(k) \~ k^{-1.74}, and the velocity difference scales as <|\Delta u|>~ L^{0.42}. The results agree well with the Kolmogorov--Burgers analytical model suggested for supersonic turbulence in [astro-ph/0108300]. We then generalize the model to more realistic, fractal structure of molecular clouds, and show that depending on the fractal dimension of a given molecular cloud, the theoretical value for the velocity spectrum spans the interval [-1.74 ... -1.89], while the corresponding window for the velocity difference scaling exponent is [0.42 ... 0.78].
Keywords
Supersonic speedTurbulencePhysicsMolecular cloudScalingFractal dimensionExponentFractalStatistical physicsMechanicsAstrophysicsMathematicsMathematical analysisGeometryStars
Affiliated Institutions
Related Publications
The Formation of Stellar Clusters: Gaussian Cloud Conditions. I.
The isothermal dynamical evolution of a clumpy and turbulent molecular cloud region and its fragmentation into a protostellar cluster is investigated numerically. The effect of ...
Publication Info
- Year
- 2002
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 573
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 678-684
- Citations
- 128
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
128
OpenAlex
Cite This
Stanislav Boldyrev,
Åke Nordlund,
Paolo Padoan
(2002).
Scaling Relations of Supersonic Turbulence in Star‐forming Molecular Clouds.
The Astrophysical Journal
, 573
(2)
, 678-684.
https://doi.org/10.1086/340758
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1086/340758