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Title: VERTICO. IV. Environmental Effects on the Gas Distribution and Star Formation Efficiency of Virgo Cluster Spirals
Abstract

We measure the molecular-to-atomic gas ratio,Rmol, and the star formation rate (SFR) per unit molecular gas mass, SFEmol, in 38 nearby galaxies selected from the Virgo Environment Traced in CO (VERTICO) survey. We stack ALMA12CO (J= 2−1) spectra coherently using Hivelocities from the VIVA survey to detect faint CO emission out to galactocentric radiirgal∼ 1.2r25. We determine the scale lengths for the molecular and stellar components, finding a ∼3:5 relation compared to ∼1:1 in field galaxies, indicating that the CO emission is more centrally concentrated than the stars. We computeRmolas a function of different physical quantities. While the spatially resolvedRmolon average decreases with increasing radius, we find that the mean molecular-to-atomic gas ratio within the stellar effective radiusRe,Rmol(r<Re), shows a systematic increase with the level of Hi, truncation and/or asymmetry (HIperturbation). Analysis of the molecular- and the atomic-to-stellar mass ratios withinRe,Rmol(r<Re)andRatom(r<Re), shows that VERTICO galaxies have increasingly lowerRatom(r<Re)for larger levels of HIperturbation (compared to field galaxies matched in stellar mass), but no significant change inRmol(r<Re). We also measure a clear systematic decrease of the SFEmolwithinRe, SFEmol(r<Re), with increasingly perturbed Hi. Therefore, compared to field galaxies from the field, VERTICO galaxies are more compact in CO emission in relation to their stellar distribution, but increasingly perturbed atomic gas increases theirRmoland decreases the efficiency with which their molecular gas forms stars.

 
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NSF-PAR ID:
10383694
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more » ; « less
Publisher / Repository:
DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume:
940
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0004-637X
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: Article No. 176
Size(s):
["Article No. 176"]
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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