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Abstract The Sloan Digital Sky Survey MaNGA program has now obtained integral field spectroscopy for over 10,000 galaxies in the nearby universe. We use the final MaNGA data release DR17 to study the correlation between ionized gas velocity dispersion and galactic star formation rate, finding a tight correlation in whichσHαfrom galactic Hiiregions increases significantly from ∼18–30 km s−1, broadly in keeping with previous studies. In contrast,σHαfrom diffuse ionized gas increases more rapidly from 20–60 km s−1. Using the statistical power of MaNGA, we investigate these correlations in greater detail using multiple emission lines and determine that the observed correlation ofσHαwith local star formation rate surface density is driven primarily by the global relation of increasing velocity dispersion at higher total star formation rate, as are apparent correlations with stellar mass. Assuming Hiiregion models consistent with our finding thatσ[OIII]<σHα<σ[O I], we estimate the velocity dispersion of the molecular gas in which the individual Hiiregions are embedded, finding valuesσMol= 5–30 km s−1consistent with ALMA observations in a similar mass range. Finally, we use variations in the relation with inclination and disk azimuthal angle to constrain the velocity dispersion ellipsoid of the ionized gasσz/σr= 0.84 ± 0.03 andσϕ/σr= 0.91 ± 0.03, similar to that of young stars in the Galactic disk. Our results are most consistent with the theoretical models in which turbulence in modern galactic disks is driven primarily by star formation feedback.
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Coevolution of Stars and Gas: Using an Analysis of Synthetic Observations to Investigate the Star–Gas Correlation in STARFORGE
Abstract We explore the relation between stellar surface density and gas surface density (the star–gas, or S-G, correlation) in a 20,000M⊙simulation from the STAR FORmation in Gaseous Environments (starforge) project. We create synthetic observations based on the Spitzer and Herschel telescopes by modeling contamination by active galactic nuclei, smoothing based on angular resolution, cropping the field of view, and removing close neighbors and low-mass sources. We extract S-G properties such as the dense gas-mass fraction, the Class II:I ratio, and the S-G correlation (ΣYSO/Σgas) from the simulation and compare them to observations of giant molecular clouds, young clusters, and star-forming regions, as well as to analytical models. We find that the simulation reproduces trends in the counts of young stellar objects and the median slope of the S-G correlation. This implies that the S-G correlation is not simply the result of observational biases, but is in fact a real effect. However, other statistics, such as the Class II:I ratio and dense gas-mass fraction, do not always match observed equivalents in nearby clouds. This motivates further observations covering the full simulation age range and more realistic modeling of cloud formation.
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- PAR ID:
- 10479789
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Volume:
- 959
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0004-637X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 135
- Size(s):
- Article No. 135
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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