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Cloud-Cloud collisions and fragmentation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2017

Anthony Whitworth  and
Helen Pongracic
Anthony Whitworth
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Wales College of Cardiff, PO Box 913, Cardiff CF1 3TH, Wales, UK.
Helen Pongracic
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Wales College of Cardiff, PO Box 913, Cardiff CF1 3TH, Wales, UK.

Abstract

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Supersonic head-on collisions between quiescent clouds produce flattened sheets of shocked gas. We derive the condition which the cooling law must satisfy if this sheet is to fragment into protostellar condensations (i.e. gravitationally unstable lumps). If this condition is not satisfied, colliding clouds are likely to be disrupted and dispersed. We show that under the conditions obtaining in GMCs, most cloud-cloud collisions probably do not result in fragmentation.