Observation of the CIV effect in interstellar clouds: a speculation on the physical mechanism for their existence

Author

Peratt, Anthony L. ; Verschuur, Gerrit L.

Author_Institution

US Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC, USA

Volume

28

Issue

6

fYear

2000

fDate

12/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2122

Lastpage

2127

Abstract

Observations of neutral hydrogen (H I) emission profiles produced by gas in the local interstellar medium are found to be characterized by four linewidth regimes. Dominant and pervasive features have widths on average of 5.2, 13, and 31 km/s, and a very broad component approximately 50 km/s wide. A striking coincidence exists between these linewidths and the magnitudes of the critical ionization velocities of the most abundant atomic species in interstellar space: 6 km/s for sodium and calcium; 13 km/s for carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen; 31 km/s for helium; and 51 km/s for hydrogen. The data relate to observations near neutral hydrogen structures that are filamentary

Keywords

H I regions; astrophysical plasma; interstellar matter; nebulae; CIV; CIV effect; H I region; astrophysical plasma; critical ionization velocity; filamentary structure; four linewidth regimes; interstellar cloud; interstellar medium; local interstellar medium; physical mechanism; Clouds; Electron beams; Helium; Hydrogen; Ionization; Laboratories; Magnetic fields; Plasmas; Solar system; Tail;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/27.902239

Filename

902239