The Transition from Diffuse to Dense Clouds

Optical and ultraviolet spectroscopy have shown that diffuse interstellar clouds can have a wide range of properties, with especially large variations in the nature of the UV extinction curve and the abundances of molecular species. More subtle variations are found in the properties of the diffuse interstellar bands, and there have been suggestions that elemental depletions from the gas phase into solid dust particles also vary significantly. It is the purpose of this paper to review studies of the relatively diffuse interstellar clouds where these variations occur, and to explore the possible relationship between dust properties, as indicated by UV extinction, and other cloud characteristics. The focus is on relatively dense diffuse clouds, which may be viewed as transitional or intermediate between ordinary diffuse clouds and dark clouds, because in principle the greatest amount of information is available for the intermediate clouds, and because they serve as indicators of processes that may occur in the denser molecular clouds. The paper begins with a brief review of some results from the literature on transitional or intermediate clouds, and then provides a summary of some recent results on one particular cloud, in front of the star BD+31 °643, in the small open cluster IC348, which is part of the Perseus II complex of dark clouds and OB associations. The paper concludes with some tentative speculations about the possible status of the transitional clouds, along with a brief mention of the impact of upcoming instrumental developments on research in this area.

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