Spiral gravitational potentials and the mass growth of molecular clouds
Abstract
Via numerical simulation, the growth of molecular clouds resulting from cloud-cloud collisions is followed. Coalescence takes place as the clouds encounter a spiral gravitational potential. It is found that the rate of growth of massive clouds near the potential minimum is enhanced, by a factor of about 3-6, above that obtained in the absence of a spiral perturbation. If giant clouds have a short time span compared with the period between successive encounters of the spiral potentials, they will occur predominantly near the potential minimum. The mean lifetime of molecular clouds as a whole, however, is longer than 10 to the 8th years.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- August 1983
- DOI:
- 10.1086/161227
- Bibcode:
- 1983ApJ...271..604K
- Keywords:
-
- Galactic Structure;
- Gravitational Fields;
- Mass Distribution;
- Molecular Clouds;
- Spiral Galaxies;
- Astronomical Models;
- Interstellar Matter;
- Astrophysics