Wavelength limits on isobaricity of perturbations in a thermally unstable radiatively cooling medium

Abstract

Nonlinear evolution of one-dimensional planar perturbations in an optically thin radiatively cooling medium in the long-wavelength limit is studied numerically. The accepted cooling function generates in thermal equilibrium a bistable equation of state $P(ρ)$. The unperturbed state is taken close to the upper (low-density) unstable state with infinite compressibility ($dP/dρ= 0$). The evolution is shown to proceed in three different stages. At first stage, pressure and density set in the equilibrium equation of state, and velocity profile steepens gradually as in case of pressure-free flows. At second stage, those regions of the flow where anomalous pressure (i.e. with negative compressibility) holds, create velocity profile more sharp than in pressure-free case, which in turn results in formation of a very narrow (short-wavelength) region where gas separates the equilibrium equation of state and pressure equilibrium sets in rapidly. On this stage, variation in pressure between narrow dense region and extended environment does not exceed more than 0.01 of the unperturbed value. On third stage, gas in the short-wavelength region reaches the second (high-density) stable state, and pressure balance establishes through the flow with pressure equal to the one in the unperturbed state. In external (long-wavelength) regions, gas forms slow isobaric inflow toward the short-wavelength layer. The duration of these stages decreases when the ratio of the acoustic time to the radiative cooling time increases. Limits in which nonlinear evolution of thermally unstable long-wavelength perturbations develops in isobaric regime are obtained.