Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Thermal Instability In Supernova Shells, R. Mccray, R. F. Stein, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Thermal instability in the radiative cooling region behind a shock will cause upstream density fluctuations to collapse into thin sheets aligned parallel to the shock front. A linearized calculation demonstrates the development of this instability. Thermal conduction suppresses the development of small-scale perturbations. Estimates of the scale sizes for the fully developed condensations agree roughly with the scale sizes of fine structure observed in supernova shells such as the Cygnus Loop.