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We present a study of new 7.7–11.3 μm data obtained with theJames WebbSpace Telescope Mid-InfraRed Instrument in the starburst galaxy M 82. In particular, we focus on the dependency of the integrated CO(1–0) line intensity on the MIRI-F770W and MIRI-F1130W filter intensities to investigate the correlation between H₂content and the 7.7 and 11.3 μm features from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in M 82’s outflows. To perform our analysis, we identify CO clouds using the archival¹²CO(J = 1 − 0) NOEMA moment 0 map within 2 kpc from the center of M 82, with sizes ranging between ∼21 and 270 pc; then, we compute the CO-to-PAH relations for the 306 validated CO clouds. On average, the power-law slopes for the two relations in M 82 are lower than what is seen in local main-sequence spirals. In addition, there is a moderate correlation betweenI_{CO(1 − 0)} − I_7.7 μm/I_11.3 μmfor some of the CO cloud groups analyzed in this work. Our results suggest that the extreme conditions in M 82 translate into CO not tracing the full budget of molecular gas in smaller clouds, perhaps as a consequence of photoionization and/or emission suppression of CO molecules due to hard radiation fields from the central starburst. 

Abstract Accurately determining gas-phase metal abundances within galaxies is critical as metals strongly affect the physics of the interstellar medium. To date, the vast majority of widely used gas-phase abundance indicators rely on emission from bright optical lines, whose emissivities are highly sensitive to the electron temperature. Alternatively, direct-abundance methods exist that measure the temperature of the emitting gas directly, though these methods usually require challenging observations of highly excited auroral lines. Low-lying far-infrared (FIR) fine structure lines are largely insensitive to electron temperature and thus provide an attractive alternative to optically derived abundances. Here, we introduce the far-infrared abundance (FIRA) project, which employs these FIR transitions, together with both radio free–free emission and hydrogen recombination lines, to derive direct, absolute gas-phase oxygen abundances. Our first target is M101, a nearby spiral galaxy with a relatively steep abundance gradient. Our results are consistent with the O ++ electron temperatures and absolute oxygen abundances derived using optical direct-abundance methods by the CHemical Abundance Of Spirals (CHAOS) program, with a small difference (∼1.5 σ ) in the radial abundance gradients derived by the FIR/free–free-normalized versus CHAOS/direct-abundance techniques. This initial result demonstrates the validity of the FIRA methodology—with the promise of determining absolute metal abundances within dusty star-forming galaxies, both locally and at high redshift.