Fluid Dynamics of Interstellar Turbulence

Alexei Kritsuk (UC San Diego)

May 07, 2018

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Abstract: Interstellar turbulence is an important subject with applications in astrophysics and cosmology from star and galaxy formation processes to studies of polarized Galactic foregrounds to the cosmic microwave background radiation. Despite recent significant progress, our understanding of ISM turbulence remains incomplete. This talk will review the current status of the subject, focusing on relevant fluid dynamics concepts with illustrations based on magnetohydrodynamic simulations. I will show that very simple numerical models of multiphase turbulence can successfully reproduce basic observables for the local ISM. I will argue that next steps in refining these models and adding more physics would require development of higher-order accurate numerical methods.