2015A&A...576L...1L

In this Letter we investigate the shape of the probability distribution of column densities (PDF) in molecular clouds. Through the use of low-noise, extinction-calibrated Herschel/Planck emission data for eight molecular clouds, we demonstrate that, contrary to common belief, the PDFs of molecular clouds are not described well by log-normal functions, but are instead power laws with exponents close to two and with breaks between A_K≃0.1 and 0.2mag, so close to the CO self-shielding limit and not far from the transition between molecular and atomic gas. Additionally, we argue that the intrinsic functional form of the PDF cannot be securely determined below A_K≃0.1mag, limiting our ability to investigate more complex models for the shape of the cloud PDF.