Structure of the turbulent atomic gas and formation of molecular clouds

¹ École Normale Supérieure and Observatoire de Paris, France
² Service d'Astrophysique, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique, France

Abstract

We present 3D high resolution numerical simulations of turbulent converging interstellar atomic hydrogen flows. First, we report pure hydrodynamical simulations from which we infer statistics of the CNM structures. We find that the CNM structures are characterized by a mass spectrum dN/dM ∝ M^-1.7-1.8, a mass-size relation M ∝ L^2.3-2.5, and a velocity dispersion σ ∝ L^0.4-05. These are reminiscent of what has been inferred for CO molecular clumps. Then we present a 3D calculation, which includes magnetic field and self-gravity with the purpose of studying the formation of molecular clouds.