Miguel H. Ibañez Sanchez, Sandra M. Conde C and Pedro L. Contreras E
Keywords: Recombining astrophysical plasma, interstellar medium (ISM), high velocity clouds (HvCs), metallicity, mean radiation field.
Abstract: The equilibrium resulting in a recombining plasma with arbitrary metallicity Z, heated by a mean radiation field E as well as by sound waves dissipation due to thermal conduction, dynamic and bulk viscosities is analyzed. Generally, the heating by acoustic waves’ dissipation induces drastic changes in the range of temperature where the thermochemical equilibrium may exist. An additional equilibrium state appears which is characterized by a lower ionization and higher gas pressure than the equilibrium resulting when the wave dissipation is neglected. The above-mentioned effects are sensible to the values of the gas parameters as well as the wavelength and intensity of the acoustic waves. Implications in the interstellar gas, in particular, in the high velocity clouds are outlined.
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