Abstract
We present calculations of frictional heating by ion-neutral drift in three-dimensional simulations of turbulent, magnetized molecular clouds. We show that ambipolar drift heating is a strong function of position in a turbulent cloud, and its average value can be significantly larger than the average cosmic-ray heating rate. The heating rate per unit volume due to ambipolar drift, HAD = | ×|2/ρiνin ~ B4/(16π2Lρiνin), is found to depend on the rms Alfvénic Mach number, A, and on the average field strength, as HAD ∝ ⟨|B|⟩4. This implies that the typical scale of variation of the magnetic field, LB, is inversely proportional to A, which we also demonstrate.
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