CHARACTERIZING THE TURBULENT PROPERTIES OF THE STARLESS MOLECULAR CLOUD MBM 16

We investigate turbulent properties of the non-star-forming, translucent molecular cloud MBM 16 by applying the statistical technique of a two-dimensional spatial power spectrum (SPS) on the neutral hydrogen (H I) observations obtained by the Galactic Arecibo L-Band Feed Array Hi survey. The SPS, ca...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2013-12, Vol.779 (1), p.1-8
Main Authors: Pingel, N M, Stanimirovic, Snezana, Peek, J E G, Lee, Min-Young, Lazarian, Alex, BURKHART, BLAKESLEY, Begum, Ayesha, Douglas, Kevin A, Heiles, Carl, Gibson, Steven J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
DENSITY
FEEDBACK
Fluctuation
FLUCTUATIONS
Fluid dynamics
GASES
HYDROGEN
MAGELLANIC CLOUDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MILKY WAY
Molecular clouds
MOLECULES
Slopes
Spark plasma sintering
SPECTRA
STARS
THICKNESS
Three dimensional
TURBULENCE
VELOCITY
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We investigate turbulent properties of the non-star-forming, translucent molecular cloud MBM 16 by applying the statistical technique of a two-dimensional spatial power spectrum (SPS) on the neutral hydrogen (H I) observations obtained by the Galactic Arecibo L-Band Feed Array Hi survey. The SPS, calculated over the range of spatial scales from 0.1 to 17 pc, is well represented with a single power-law function, with a slope ranging from -3.3 to -3.7 and being consistent over the velocity range of MBM 16 for a fixed velocity channel thickness. However, the slope varies significantly with the velocity slice thickness, suggesting that both velocity and density contribute to H i intensity fluctuations. By using this variation, we estimate the slope of three-dimensional density fluctuations in MBM 16 to be -3.7 + or - 0.2. This is significantly steeper than what has been found for H I in the Milky Way plane, the Small Magellanic Cloud, or the Magellanic Bridge, suggesting that interstellar turbulence in MBM 16 is driven on scales > 17 pc and that the lack of stellar feedback could be responsible for the steep power spectrum.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/779/1/36