NRAO/Socorro Colloquium Series

Adam Frank

University of Rochester


Hypersonic Swizzle Sticks Proto-stellar Jets and Turbulence in Molecular Clouds


The expected lifetimes for molecular clouds has become a topic of considerable debate as numerical simulations have shown that MHD turbulence, the nominal means of support for the clouds against self-gravity, will decay on rather short timescales. Thus it appears that either molecular clouds are transient features or they are resupplied with turbulent energy through some means. Jets and molecular outflows are recognized as a ubiquitous phenomena associated with star formation. Stars do not however form in isolation. Rich star forming regions such as Orion can contain as many as 1000 stars in a few parsecs. Low mass star forming regions such as Taurus or Perseus will contain hundreds of star in a similar volume. The ubiquity and high density of outflows from young stars in clusters make them an intriguing candidate for the source of turbulence energy in molecular clouds. In this talk I present new studies, both observational and theoretical, which address the issue of jet/outflow interactions and their ability drive turbulent flows in molecular clouds. In particular we show that fossil cavities from "extinct" outflows may provide the missing link in terms of transferring momentum and energy to the cloud.






December 7, 2007
11:00 am

Array Operations Center Auditorium

All NRAO employees are invited to attend via video, available in Charlottesville Room 230, Green Bank Room 137 and Tucson N525.

Local Host: Debra Shepherd