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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
In order to explore how supernova blast waves might catalyze star formation, we investigate the stability of a slab of decelerating gas of finite thickness. We examine the early work in the field by Elmegreen and Lada and Elmegreen and Elmegreen and demonstrate that it is flawed. Contrary to their claims, blast waves can indeed accelerate the rate of star formation in the interstellar medium. Also, we demonstrate that in an incompressible fluid, the symmetric and antisymmetric modes in the case of zero acceleration transform continuously into Rayleigh-Taylor and gravity-wave modes as acceleration grows more important.