TURBULENCE AND SELF-ORGANIZATION ALONG THE MAIN RIDGE OF AN INTEGRAL SHAPED FILAMENT IN THE ORION MOLECULAR CLOUD

Abstract

In this paper, an information-entropy analysis of the radio observations of the main
ridge of an integral-shaped filament in the Orion cloud has been carried out. Early studies of the
kinematics of this area showed that dense pre-stellar cores are located near the local minimum of
velocities along the main ridge of the ISF. In the present work, such an estimate was made through
the normalized informational entropy for the NH3, 12CO, 13CO, N2H+ elements and it was
determined that the pre-stellar cores have the normalized entropy values lying in the I1<S/Smax<I2,
and are self-organized structures.
Information entropy is considered as a criterion for the evaluation of turbulence and self-
organization of structures in molecular clouds, leading to the formation of dense cores,
subsequently, the cradle of young stellar associations. The entropy for the regions of the
protoclusters is self-organized, regardless of which tracer was selected. This is primarily due to the
universal behavior of turbulent flows spreading over the entire gas of a molecular cloud. The
proposed classification method for the normalized values of the information entropy can be
effectively applied to determine areas that are characterized by self-organized, turbulent motion.
Potentially, these areas may be localized as candidates in areas where star formation may occur.