Velocity Anisotropy in Self-gravitating Molecular Clouds. II. Observation

Abstract

Abstract The view on velocity structures in molecular clouds and their relationship with magnetic fields (B field) has evolved during the past decade from almost no correlation to highly parallel. Our numerical simulations suggest a more nuanced picture: Depending on whether the self-gravity is dynamically dominant, the velocity field can be governed by either contraction (at high densities) or turbulence (at low densities), and their anisotropies will tend to be either perpendicular or parallel, respectively, to the B fields. High-density regions are always embedded in the low-density fore/background, so the velocity behaviors from lines of sight (LOSs) with high column densities will be a mixture of orthogonal anisotropies, which can be hard to interpret and necessitates zooming in onto certain LOS scales to better characterize localized behaviors. We tested and confirmed the above prediction with CO observations of the Taurus molecular cloud.