Self-Sustained Turbulence without Dynamical Forcing: A Two-Dimensional Study of a Bistable Interstellar Medium

In this paper, the nonlinear evolution of a bistable interstellar medium is investigated using two-dimensional simulations with a realistic cooling rate, thermal conduction, and physical viscosity. The calculations are performed using periodic boundary conditions without any external dynamical forcing. As the initial condition, a spatially uniform unstable gas under thermal equilibrium is considered. At the initial stage, the unstable gas quickly segregates into two phases, or cold neutral medium (CNM) and warm neutral medium (WNM). Then, self-sustained turbulence with velocity dispersion of $0.1-0.2\;\mathrm{km\;s^{-1}}$ is observed in which the CNM moves around in the WNM. We find that the interfacial medium (IFM) between the CNM and WNM plays an important role in sustaining the turbulence. The self-sustaining mechanism can be divided into two steps. First, thermal conduction drives fast flows streaming into concave CNM surfaces towards the WNM. The kinetic energy of the fast flows in the IFM is incorporated into that of the CNM through the phase transition. Second, turbulence inside the CNM deforms interfaces and forms other concave CNM surfaces, leading to fast flows in the IFM. This drives the first step again and a cycle is established by which turbulent motions are self-sustained.
Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures, accepted by The Astrophysical Journal