The steady structure of a jet/cloud interaction .2. The case of a spherically symmetric stratification

In a previous paper we have explored the final, steady configuration attained by a jet interacting with a dense cloud with a plane-parallel pressure stratification. We now extend this study to the interaction of a jet with a spherically symmetric pressure stratification, concentrating particularly on the case of a singular, isothermal sphere (with P proportional to r(-2)). With a simple model based on Bernoulli's theorem, we find that unless a high Mach number (M(0) similar to 10) jet hits the dense cloud head on (in other words with an impact parameter much smaller than the radius of the cloud), the final configuration attained by the jet/cloud interaction corresponds to the jet boring an almost straight path through the cloud. This result is true for the case of an adiabatic jet, and even more so for the radiative case. On the other hand, a low Mach number (M(0) similar to 1) jet will be substantially deflected in such a collision.