An Origin of Supersonic Motions in Interstellar Clouds

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Published 2002 January 7 © 2002. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
, , Citation Hiroshi Koyama and Shu-ichiro Inutsuka 2002 ApJ 564 L97 DOI 10.1086/338978

1538-4357/564/2/L97

Abstract

The propagation of a shock wave into an interstellar medium is investigated by two-dimensional numerical hydrodynamic calculation with cooling, heating, and thermal conduction. We present results of the high-resolution, two-dimensional calculations to follow the fragmentation that results from thermal instability in a shock-compressed layer. We find that the geometrically thin cooling layer behind the shock front fragments into small cloudlets. The cloudlets have supersonic velocity dispersion in the warm neutral medium, in which the fragments are embedded as cold condensations. The fragments tend to coalesce and become larger clouds.

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10.1086/338978