The Mysterious Radcliffe Wave

Abstract

This survey is devoted to the Radcliffe Wave discovered recently by Alves et al., from an analysis of the position of molecular clouds. These authors identified a narrow chain of molecular clouds, extended essentially in one line at an angle of about 30° to the galactic axis y. Essentially, the Radcliffe Wave outlines the damped oscillations in the vertical distribution of with a maximum oscillation amplitude of about 160 pc and a characteristic length of about 2.5 kpc. At present, the presence of the Radcliffe Wave is confirmed in the vertical direction: a) of interstellar dust, (b) sources of maser radiation and radio stars, which are very young stars and protostars, that are closely associated with molecular clouds, c) low mass stars of type T Tau, d) more massive OB-stars, and e) young diffuse star clusters. The Radcliffe Wave is followed as well in the vertical velocities of the young stars. Most of the examined results of the analysis of the vertical velocities of the different young stars shows that the oscillations in the vertical positions and vertical velocities of the vertical velocities of the stars in the Radcliffe Wave take place synchronously. The nature of the Radcliffe Wave is not entirely clear. Many researchers associate it with the assumption of an external gravitational interaction on the gravitational disk of a striker such as a dwarf galaxy satellite of the Milky Way.