Turbulent Properties in Star-forming Molecular Clouds Down to the Sonic Scale. II. Investigating the Relation between Turbulence and Star-forming Environments in Molecular Clouds

Abstract

We investigate the effect of star formation on turbulence in the Orion A and Ophiuchus clouds using principal component analysis (PCA). We measure the properties of turbulence by applying PCA on the spectral maps in 13 CO, C 18 O, HCO + J = 1–0, and CS J = 2–1. First, the scaling relations derived from PCA of the 13 CO maps show that the velocity difference ( δv ) for a given spatial scale ( L ) is the highest in the integral-shaped filament (ISF) and L1688, where the most active star formation occurs in the two clouds. The δv increases with the number density and total bolometric luminosity of the protostars in the subregions. Second, in the ISF and L1688 regions, the δv of C 18 O, HCO + , and CS are generally higher than that of 13 CO, which implies that the dense gas is more turbulent than the diffuse gas in the star-forming regions; stars form in dense gas, and dynamical activities associated with star formation, such as jets and outflows, can provide energy into the surrounding gas to enhance turbulent motions.