Large-scale structure of the Taurus molecular complex. II - Analysis of velocity fluctuations and turbulence. III - Methods for turbulence
S. C. Kleiner, R. L. Dickman;
ApJ, 1985, 295, 466
ABSTRACT:The velocity autocorrelation function (ACF) of observed spectral line centroid fluctuations is noted to effectively reproduce the actual
ACF of turbulent gas motions within an interstellar cloud, thereby
furnishing a framework for the study of the large scale velocity structure of the
Taurus dark cloud complex traced by the present C-13O J = 1-0 observations of
this region.
The results obtained are discussed in the context of recent
suggestions that widely observed correlations between molecular cloud widths and
cloud sizes indicate the presence of a continuum of turbulent motions within
the dense interstellar medium.
Attention is then given to a method for the
quantitative study of these turbulent motions, involving the mapping of a source in
an optically thin spectral line and studying the spatial correlation
properties of the resulting velocity centroid map.
KEYWORDS: flow velocity, interstellar gas, molecular clouds, turbulence effects, astronomical maps, autocorrelation, carbon monoxide, statistical analysis
PERSOKEY:turbulence, ,
CODE: kleiner85