Effect of radiative cooling on molecular cloud collapse

The effect of the radiative cooling of electrons on the gravitational colla pse of molecular clouds consisting of neutral particles along with electron s, ions, and electrically charged dust grains with fluctuating charge is in vestigated. We include the effect of radiation on the gravitational collaps e of the neutrals only through the ion-neutral and grain-neutral collisions . In the absence of thermal conduction, the radiative condensational instab ility may couple with the Jeans mode in the long-wavelength regime. However , when the thermal conduction is switched on, gravitational collapse Is not altered in any significant way by the radiative mode. The charge fluctuati ons on the grains may slightly reduce the Jeans growth rate as the collisio n induced plasma electric field, which is in phase with the gravitational f ield, is slightly reduced by the charge variation on the grains.