Turbulent Properties in the Orion A and ρ Ophiuchus molecular clouds: Observations and preliminary results

  • Published : 2017.10.10

Abstract

Molecular clouds are the sites of stellar birth. Turbulence is a natural phenomenon in molecular clouds, which largely determines the density and velocity fields. Additionally turbulent energy dissipation can affect the gas kinetic temperature via shocks. Turbulence thus controls the mode and tempo of star formation. However, despite its important role in star formation, the properties of turbulence remain poorly understood. As part of the Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory (TRAO) Key Science Program (KSP), "Mapping turbulent properties of star-forming molecular clouds down to the sonic scale (PI: Jeong-Eun Lee)", we have been mapping two star-forming clouds, the Orion A and the ${\rho}$ Ophiuchus molecular clouds in 3 sets of lines (13CO 1-0/C18O 1-0, HCN 1-0/HCO+ 1-0, and CS 2-1/N2H+ 1-0) using the TRAO 14-m telescope. We apply a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which is an useful tool to represent turbulent power spectrum. We will present the preliminary results of our TRAO KSP toward two regions: OMC 1-4 in the Orion A cloud, and L1688 in the ${\rho}$ Ophiuchus cloud.

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