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arXiv · 1007.2242

Observational Determination of the Turbulent Ambipolar Diffusion Scale and Magnetic Field Strength in Molecular Clouds

Talayeh Hezareh·Martin Houde·Carolyn McCoey·Hua-bai Li
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Abstract

We study the correlation of the velocity dispersion of the coexisting molecules H13CN and H13CO+ and the turbulent energy dissipation scale in the DR21(OH) star-forming region. The down-shift of the H13CO+ spectrum relative to H13CN is consistent with the presence of ambipolar diffusion at dissipation length scales that helps the process of turbulent energy dissipation, but at a different cut-off for ions compared to the neutrals. We use our observational data to calculate a turbulent ambipolar diffusion length scale L'\simeq17 mpc and a strength of B_{pos}\simeq1.7 mG for the plane of the sky component of the magnetic field in DR21(OH).

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Talayeh Hezareh, Martin Houde, Carolyn McCoey, Hua-bai Li. 2010-07-14. Observational Determination of the Turbulent Ambipolar Diffusion Scale and Magnetic Field Strength in Molecular Clouds. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/720/1/603

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