The non-equilibrium ionization structures and radiative loss rates in, and the dynamical structures of conductive interfaces between spherical interstellar clouds and the hot gas in which they are embedded, were calculated self-consistently. The plasmas were assumed to be unmagnetized and only subsonic evaporation was studied. Mass loss rates and the column densities of several observable ions were calculated for interfaces between clouds having a range of radii and being embedded in media with temperatures of 5×105 and 106 K. The column densities of O5+, N4+, and C3+ in the interfaces are in general compatible with existing ultraviolet absorption data, but the model linewidths may be larger than those observed. If the extreme ultraviolet background emission originates in conductive interfaces around nearby clouds, the pressure of the local interstellar medium must be about 10−11 erg cm−3; the high pressure conductive interfaces do not produce the observed far ultraviolet emission lines.
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Böhringer et al. (1987) studied this question.