Speaker
Evangelia Ntormousi
(CEA/Saclay)
Description
The large-scale shocks formed by the clustered feedback of
young stars are considered an important source of mechanical
energy for the interstellar medium and a trigger of
molecular cloud formation. Their interaction sites are
locations where kinetic energy and magnetic field are
redistributed between ISM phases. In this work we study the
role of turbulence and magnetic fields in the dynamics of
supershells and their interactions. On the one hand, we
study the effect of the magnetic field on the expansion and
fragmentation of supershells and on the other, we look for
the signatures of supershell collisions on the kinetic and
magnetic energy distribution of the ISM.
We perform a series of high-resolution, three-dimensional
simulations of expanding and colliding supershells. These
simulations are compared to observations of Galactic
supershells and supershell collision sites in HI and CO to
examine the dynamical stability of the shocks and the
efficiency of shock collisions for molecular cloud
formation. In general, we find that supershell collisions
are not effective in converting atomic to molecular gas. We
also find that, a magnetic field either in the direction of
the collision or perpendicular to it alters the expansion
and the stability of the shocks significantly.
Primary author
Evangelia Ntormousi
(CEA/Saclay)
Co-authors
Joanne Dawson
(CSIRO and Macquarie University, Australia)
Patrick Hennebelle
(CEA/Saclay)
