A Dynamical Study of the Non-Star Forming Translucent Molecular Cloud MBM16: Evidence for Shear Driven Turbulence in the Interstellar Medium

Abstract

We present the results of a velocity correlation study of the high latitude cloud MBM16 using a fully sampled ${}^{12}$CO map, supplemented by new ${}^{13}$CO data. We find a correlation length of 0.4 pc. This is similar in size to the formaldehyde clumps described in our previous study. We associate this correlated motion with coherent structures within the turbulent flow. Such structures are generated by free shear flows. Their presence in this non-star forming cloud indicates that kinetic energy is being supplied to the internal turbulence by an external shear flow. Such large scale driving over long times is a possible solution to the dissipation problem for molecular cloud turbulence.

Uses AAS aasms4.sty macros. Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (2)

• Kinetic Energy Decay Rates of Supersonic and Super-Alfvenic Turbulence in Star-Forming Clouds
• The survival of interstellar clouds against Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities

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