  We study the origin of the non-thermal profiles observed in filamentary
structures in galactic molecular clouds by means of numerical dynamical
simulations. We find that such profiles are intrinsic features of the end
products of dissipationless collapse in cylindrical symmetry. Moreover, for
sufficiently cold initial conditions, we obtain end states characterized by
markedly anticorrelated radial density and temperature profiles. Gravitational,
dissipationless dynamics alone is thus sufficient to reproduce, at least
qualitatively, many of the properties of the observed non-thermal structures.
