Molecular clouds have power-law PDFs (not log-normal)

Author(s)
João Alves, Marco Lombardi, Charles Lada
Abstract

Contrary to common belief, the column density PDFs of molecular clouds

are not described well by log-normal functions, but are instead

power-laws with exponents close to two. We argue that the intrinsic

functional form of the PDF cannot be securely determined below A

K ~ 0.1-0.2 mag, limiting our ability to investigate more

complex models for the shape of the cloud PDF.

Organisation(s)
Department of Astrophysics
External organisation(s)
Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Journal
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Volume
11
Pages
706-707
No. of pages
2
ISSN
1743-9213
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/S174392131600644X
Publication date
2015
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103004 Astrophysics
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nutrition and Dietetics, Medicine (miscellaneous), Space and Planetary Science
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/ea5231e4-e659-4ef2-9156-2999543a8b04