Dense core compression and fragmentation induced by the scattering of hydromagnetic waves

Abstract

We have performed 2D hydromagnetic simulations with an adaptive mesh refinement code to examine the response of a pre-existing initially spherical dense core to a non-linear fast-mode wave. One key parameter is the ratio of the wavelength to the initial core radius. If that ratio is large and the wave amplitude is sufficient, significant compression of the core occurs, as envisaged by Myers & Lazarian (1998) in their "turbulent cooling flow" picture. For smaller values of that ratio, an initial value of the ratio of the thermal pressure to magnetic pressure of 0.2, and sufficiently large wave amplitude, the scattering induces the production of dense substructure in the core. This substructure may be related to that detected in the dense core associated with the cyanopolyyne peak in TMC-1. Our simulations also show that short-wavelength waves, contrary to large-wavelength waves, do not confine dense cores.