Turbulence Effects at Small Scales

Abstract

It is most natural to assume that mysterious Small Ionized and Neutral Structures (SINS) indiffuse ISM arise from turbulence. There are two obvious problem with such an explanation, however. First of all, it is generally believed that at the small scales turbulence should be damped. Second, turbulence with Kolmogorov spectrum cannot be the responsible for the SINS. We consider, however, effects, that provide spectral index flatter than the Kolmogorov one and allow action at very small scales. These are the shocks that arise in high Mach number turbulence and transfer of energy to small scales by instabilities in cosmic rays. Our examples indicate that the origin of SINS may be discovered through systematic studies of astrophysical turbulence.