2006/11/07 by Paolo Padoan, Mika Juvela, M. Juvela +3 · 7 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Computational physics #Computer science #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Mechanics #Molecular cloud #Optics #Physics #Radiative transfer #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Spectral density #Supersonic speed #Telecommunications #Turbulence #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/510620
published as Astrophys.J.653:L125-L128,2006 · 4 pages, 3 figures. ApJ Letters, in press
arxiv created 2006/11/07 · openalex publication_date 2006/11/30 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We test a method of estimating the power spectrum of turbulence in molecular clouds based on the comparison of power spectra of integrated intensity maps and single-velocity-channel maps, suggested by A. Lazarian and D. Pogosyan. We use synthetic 13 CO data from non-LTE radiative transfer calculations based on density and velocity fields of a simulation of supersonic hydrodynamic turbulence. We find that the method yields the correct power spectrum with good accuracy. We then apply the method to the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory 13 CO map of the Perseus region, from the COMPLETE Web site. We find a power-law power spectrum with slope β = 1.81 ± 0.10. The values of β as a function of velocity resolution are also confirmed using the lower resolution map of the same region obtained with the AT&T Bell Laboratories antenna. Because of its small uncertainty, this result provides a useful constraint for numerical codes used to simulate molecular cloud turbulence.