Scaling Relations for Turbulence in the Multiphase Interstellar Medium

Abstract

We employ a generalization of the She & Leveque model to study velocity scaling relations based on our simulations of thermal instability--induced turbulence. Being a by-product of the interstellar phase transition, such multiphase turbulence tends to be more intermittent than compressible isothermal turbulence. Due to radiative cooling, which promotes nonlinear instabilities in supersonic flows, the Hausdorff dimension of the most singular dissipative structures, D, can be as high as 2.3, while in supersonic isothermal turbulence D is limited by shock dissipation to D < 2. We also show that single-phase velocity statistics carry only incomplete information on the turbulent cascade in a multiphase medium. We briefly discuss the possible implications of these results on the hierarchical structure of molecular clouds and on star formation.

ApJ Letters, published version (minor changes); 4 pages, 2 color figures; mpeg animations available at http://akpc.ucsd.edu/ThermalInstability

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