The Mass Spectrum of Interstellar Clouds and the Assumption of Total Coalescence

We have investigated some modifications of the statistical mechanical model for the formation and disruption of interstellar clouds originally proposed by Field and Saslaw. We conclude that the asymptotic nature of the mass spectrum (i.e. N(m) ≈ m−3/2), under the assumptions of total coalescence and uniform σv, is independent of the redistribution of the larger clouds into the smaller ones and the time dependence of the problem. We also describe some preliminary results of more detailed model calculations.