A Model of Cloud Fragmentation

Abstract

We present a model in which the supersonic motions observed in molecular clouds are driven by gravitational energy released as large structures fragment into smaller ones. The fragmentation process begins in large molecular clouds, and continues down to fragments of a critical mass, at which gravitational confinement may be replaced by pressure confinement. The power laws that describe the scaling of density and mass, and number spectra and mass spectra of the fragments are given in terms of that of the observed velocity dispersion of the fragments. The results agree reasonably well with observations over the range from several to about a third of a million solar masses.