A statistical analysis is presented of the turbulent velocity structure in
the Orion Molecular Cloud at scales ranging from 70 AU to 30000 AU. Results are
based on IR Fabry-Perot interferometric observations of shock and
photon-excited H2 in the K-band S(1) v=1-0 line at 2.121micron and refer to the
dynamical characteristics of warm perturbed gas. Observations establish that
the Larson size-linewidth relation is obeyed to the smallest scales studied
here extending the range of validity of this relationship by nearly 2 orders of
magnitude. The velocity probability distribution function (PDF) is constructed
showing extended exponential wings, providing evidence of intermittency,
further supported by the skewness and kurtosis of the velocity distribution.
Variance and kurtosis of the PDF of velocity differences are constructed as a
function of lag. The variance shows an approximate power law dependence on lag,
with exponent significantly lower than the Kolmogorov value, and with
deviations below 2000AU which are attributed to outflows and possibly disk
structures associated with low mass star formation within OMC1. The kurtosis
shows strong deviation from a gaussian velocity field, providing evidence of
velocity correlations at small lags. Results agree accurately with
semi-empirical simulations in Eggers & Wang (1998).
In addition, 170 individual H2 emitting clumps have been analysed with sizes
between 500 and 2200 AU. These show considerable diversity with regard to PDFs
and variance functions. Our analysis constitutes the first characterization of
the turbulent velocity field at the scale of star formation and provide a
dataset which models of star-forming regions should aim to reproduce.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, to appear in A&A, typos correcte