[Previous] | [Session 64] | [Next]
M.-M. Mac Low (AMNH)
Energy input from supernovae (SNe) and stellar winds maintains the hot component of the ISM, as well as maintaining the velocity dispersion in the warm medium at trans-Alfvénic velocities. The random nature of this input suggests that it generates ``turbulence''. Although chaotic motions are indeed generated, this supersonic, trans-Alfvénic turbulence cannot be described using the properties of incompressible hydrodynamic turbulence. Energy decays at a different rate, density contrasts appear, and self-similarity is not guaranteed.
Direct numerical simulations of SN-driven turbulence have progressed, moving from the 2D simulations of the last decade to full 3D simulations with discrete blast wave driving in recent years. I will briefly review the highlights of these simulations, emphasizing that single structures are very difficult to interpret if the chaotic background medium is not taken into account. Simple clump models of turbulence that neglect the correlation of density and velocity structure are probably inadequate. I will show preliminary results of models of SN explosions in a uniformly driven turbulent medium to begin to address these issues.
If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries, it is a
s follows:
http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/theory/maclow/