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J.D. Slavin (SAO)
Turbulent mixing layers (TML) have been proposed to exist in a number of astrophysical environments in which gas with disparate temperatures and densities meet at a shear flow boundary (Begelman & Fabian 1990, Slavin et al. 1993). These boundaries are potentially very important for understanding the interaction of hot and warm/cold gas in the interstellar medium of galaxies. Previous models of TMLs have been based on single zone models that required several simplifying assumptions, including a single mixing temperature and steady flow. We present new results from numerical hydrodynamical calculations of TMLs that include non-equilibrium ionization and cooling. These calculations, while still limited by various assumptions (2-D, no magnetic field) nonetheless allow us to test the assumptions of our earlier models (Slavin et al. 1993) and to calculate important quantities for comparison with observations, e.g. line widths. We find that our modeled TMLs are highly efficient in incorporating hot gas into the shear layer thus making TMLs more attractive as the source of highly ionized species observed to be widespread in the Galactic disk and halo.
This research was supported by NASA's Astrophysics Theory Program.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.