On the gravitational content of molecular clouds and their cores


Por: Ballesteros-Paredes, J, Gomez, GC, Pichardo, B, Vazquez-Semadeni, E

Publicada: 11 mar 2009
Resumen:
The gravitational term for clouds and cores entering in the virial theorem is usually assumed to be equal to the gravitational energy, since the contribution to the gravitational force from the mass distribution outside the volume of integration is assumed to be negligible. Such approximation may not be valid in the presence of an important external net potential. In the present work, we analyse the effect of an external gravitational field on the gravitational budget of a density structure. Our cases under analysis are (a) a giant molecular cloud (GMC) with different aspect ratios embedded within a galactic net potential, including the effects of gravity, shear and inertial forces, and (b) a molecular cloud (MC) core embedded within the gravitational potential of its parent MC. We find that for roundish GMCs, the tidal tearing due to the shear in the plane of the Galaxy is compensated by the tidal compression in the z-direction. The influence of the external effective potential on the

Filiaciones:
Ballesteros-Paredes, J:
 Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Ctr Radioastron & Astrofis, Morelia 58089, Michoacan, Mexico

Gomez, GC:
 Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Ctr Radioastron & Astrofis, Morelia 58089, Michoacan, Mexico

Pichardo, B:
 Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Astron, Mexico City 04510, DF, Mexico

Vazquez-Semadeni, E:
 Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Ctr Radioastron & Astrofis, Morelia 58089, Michoacan, Mexico
ISSN: 00358711





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