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Session 15 - Structure and Collapse of Molecular Clouds: Theory.
Display session, Monday, January 13
Metropolitan Ballroom,
In the present work, we model the dynamics and evolutionary processes which lead to the formation of complex structure in star-forming molecular clouds. Our physical model consists of an extended, self-gravitating slab which is initially in unstable equilibrium. By providing wavelike perturbations we observe the evolution and dynamics of different wave modes. The dispersion relation is calculated by repeatedly measuring the growth rate of the modes in the linear regime using a 3D eulerian scheme with 1.6 million zones. We find that the numerically measured dispersion relation is in excellent agreement with recent analytic calculations. In addition to verifying the analytic calculations, we follow the development of cloud structures into the nonlinear regime, and study the effects of several different equations of state.
