From Clumps to Sheets: Geometry Controls the Temperature PDF of Multi-Phase Gas

Temperature probability distribution functions (PDFs) are a compact description of the thermal structure of multi-phase turbulent gas, and are directly linked to observables such as emission/absorption line ratios and phase mass fractions. In the circumgalactic medium (CGM) literature, temperature PDFs are often interpreted using planar turbulent radiative mixing layers, for which analytic models successfully reproduce the simulated temperature structure. These PDFs are assumed to be universal. By contrast, studies of the multiphase interstellar medium (ISM) typically use turbulent-box simulations, which produce broad PDFs but lack a clear theoretical interpretation. Using 3D hydrodynamic simulations under both ISM and CGM conditions, we compare planar mixing layers with turbulent-box simulations under identical microphysical conditions. Despite identical cooling and turbulent driving, the resulting temperature PDFs differ substantially. The missing ingredient is geometry. We demonstrate that the temperature PDF can be decomposed into the product of the area of temperature isosurfaces and the thickness of the corresponding temperature layers. The thickness is controlled primarily by microphysics, such as radiative cooling and thermal conduction, and is well captured by existing mixing-layer models. The isosurface area, however, is set by morphology. In mixing layers it remains sheet-like, whereas in turbulent media cold gas forms clumps whose interfaces expand with temperature and eventually percolate into connected sheets. This geometric transition produces broad PDFs with large intermediate-temperature mass fractions. These results have implications for long-standing puzzles such as thermally unstable gas in the ISM, the large OVI reservoir in the CGM, and X-ray-Hα correlations in jellyfish tails.