Interstellar Turbulence I: Observations and Processes

Abstract

This two-part review summarizes interstellar turbulence and its implications. The first part begins with diagnostics and energy sources. Turbulence theory is considered in detail, including the basic fluid equations, solenoidal and compressible modes, global inviscid quadratic invariants, scaling arguments, energy transfer and cascade, velocity probability distributions, and turbulent pressure. Theories of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, including collisionless MHD turbulence, are discussed, emphasizing various proposals for energy spectra. A large variety of numerical simulations of interstellar turbulence are reviewed. Models have reproduced many of the basic features of the observed scaling relations, predicted fast decay rates for supersonic MHD turbulence, and derived probability distribution functions for density. Thermal instabilities and thermal phases have a new interpretation in a turbulent medium. Large-scale models with various combinations of self-gravity, magnetic fields, supernovae, and star formation are beginning to resemble the observed interstellar medium in morphology and statistical properties. The role of self-gravity in turbulent gas is clarified, leading to new paradigms for the formation of star clusters, the stellar mass function, the origin of stellar rotation and binary stars, and the effects of magnetic fields.Comment: 71 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysic