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The effect of ISM turbulence on the gravitational instability of galactic discs.

Authors :
Hoffmann, Volker
Romeo, Alessandro B.
Source :
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Sep2012, Vol. 425 Issue 2, p1511-1520. 10p. 1 Chart, 7 Graphs.
Publication Year :
2012

Abstract

ABSTRACT We investigate the gravitational instability of galactic discs, treating stars and cold interstellar gas as two distinct components, and taking into account the phenomenology of turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM), i.e. the Larson-type scaling relations observed in the molecular and atomic gas. Besides deriving general properties of such systems, we analyse a large sample of galaxies from The H i Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS), and show in detail how interstellar turbulence affects disc instability in star-forming spirals. We find that turbulence has a significant effect on both the inner and the outer regions of the disc. In particular, it drives the inner gas disc to a regime of transition between two instability phases and makes the outer disc more prone to star-dominated instabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00358711
Volume :
425
Issue :
2
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
79241634
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21675.x