Supersonic turbulence and structure of interstellar molecular clouds

Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Jul 15;89(3):031102. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.031102. Epub 2002 Jul 1.

Abstract

The interstellar medium provides a unique laboratory for highly supersonic, driven hydrodynamic turbulence. We propose a theory of such turbulence, test it by numerical simulations, and use the results to explain observational scaling properties of interstellar molecular clouds, the regions where stars are born.