How turbulence affects the molecular structure of the ISM?

Observations show that the interstellar medium (ISM) is highly turbulent

Interstellar turbulence plays a key role in shaping the density structure of the ISM, the star formation process, and astrochemistry.

I will discuss how (supersonic) interstellar turbulence affects molecular abundances in the ISM, and show how we can use spectroscopic observations to set constraints on turbulence properties: its driving scale and driving intensity.

These constraints may shed light on the sources and nature of interstellar turbulence.

Towards the end of this talk, I will also discuss new avenues for studying low energy cosmic rays, 

in which cold dark clouds may be used as gigantic cosmic-ray detectors.

For competence, I attach links to the papers upon which this talk is based:

TurboChem: Bialy et al. (2017), Bialy et al. (2019), Bialy & Burkhart (2020)

Cold clouds as cosmic-ray detectors: Bialy (2020)