Shock waves in the interstellar medium

Abstract

Calculations of the optical and UV emission-line intensities and column densities of ions observable in the optical and UV are presented for plane-parallel steady-state shock waves in the interstellar medium. The range of shock velocities considered is from 50 to 200 km/s, and preshock densities are between 1 and 300 per cu cm. The ionization state of the preshock gas is found to be an important parameter, and several sets of elemental abundances corresponding to various amounts of depletion onto grains are used. The results are compared with observations of the Cygnus Loop, the Vela supernova remnant, and Herbig-Haro objects.