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arXiv · 1510.05654

On the universality of interstellar filaments: theory meets simulations and observations

Christoph Federrath
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Abstract

Filaments are ubiquitous in the universe. Recent observations have revealed that stars and star clusters form preferentially along dense filaments. Understanding the formation and properties of filaments is therefore a crucial step in understanding star formation. Here we perform three-dimensional high-resolution magnetohydrodynamical simulations that follow the evolution of molecular clouds and the formation of filaments and stars. We apply a filament detection algorithm and compare simulations with different combinations of physical ingredients: gravity, turbulence, magnetic fields and jet/outflow feedback. We find that gravity-only simulations produce significantly narrower filament profiles than observed, while simulations that include turbulence produce realistic filament properties. For these turbulence simulations, we find a remarkably universal filament width of 0.10 +/- 0.02 pc, which is independent of the star formation history of the clouds. We derive a theoretical model that provides a physical explanation for this characteristic filament width, based on the sonic scale (lambda_sonic) of molecular cloud turbulence. Our derivation provides lambda_sonic as a function of the cloud diameter L, the velocity dispersion sigma_v, the gas sound speed c_s, and the ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure, plasma beta. For typical cloud conditions in the Milky Way spiral arms, we find lambda_sonic = 0.04-0.16 pc, in excellent agreement with the filament width of 0.05-0.15 pc from observations. Consistent with the theoretical model assumptions, we find that the velocity dispersion inside the filaments is subsonic and supersonic outside. We further explain the observed p=2 scaling of the filament density profile, rho ~ r^(-p) with the collision of two planar shocks forming a filament at their intersection.

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Christoph Federrath. 2016-01-11. On the universality of interstellar filaments: theory meets simulations and observations. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras%2Fstv2880

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