We measure the CO-to-H2conversion factor (
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Abstract α CO) in 37 galaxies at 2 kpc resolution, using the dust surface density inferred from far-infrared emission as a tracer of the gas surface density and assuming a constant dust-to-metal ratio. In total, we have ∼790 and ∼610 independent measurements ofα COfor CO (2–1) and (1–0), respectively. The mean values forα CO (2–1)andα CO (1–0)are and , respectively. The CO-intensity-weighted mean is 5.69 forα CO (2–1)and 3.33 forα CO (1–0). We examine howα COscales with several physical quantities, e.g., the star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass, and dust-mass-weighted average interstellar radiation field strength ( ). Among them, , ΣSFR, and the integrated CO intensity (W CO) have the strongest anticorrelation with spatially resolvedα CO. We provide linear regression results toα COfor all quantities tested. At galaxy-integrated scales, we observe significant correlations betweenα COandW CO, metallicity, , and ΣSFR. We also find thatα COin each galaxy decreases with the stellar mass surface density (Σ⋆) in high-surface-density regions (Σ⋆≥ 100M ⊙pc−2), following the power-law relations and . The power-law index is insensitive to the assumed dust-to-metal ratio. We interpret the decrease inα COwith increasing Σ⋆as a result of higher velocity dispersion compared to isolated, self-gravitating clouds due to the additional gravitational force from stellar sources, which leads to the reduction inα CO. The decrease inα COat high Σ⋆is important for accurately assessing molecular gas content and star formation efficiency in the centers of galaxies, which bridge “Milky Way–like” to “starburst-like” conversion factors. -
Abstract We report observations of the ground state transitions of12CO,13CO, C18O, HCN, and HCO+at 88–115 GHz in the inner region of the nearby galaxy IC 342. These data were obtained with the 16 pixel spectroscopic focal plane array Argus on the 100 m Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) at 6″–9″ resolution. In the nuclear bar region, the intensity distributions of12CO(1–0) and13CO(1–0) emission trace moderate densities, and differ from the dense gas distributions sampled in C18O(1–0), HCN(1–0), and HCO+(1–0). We observe a constant HCN(1–0)-to-HCO+(1–0) ratio of 1.2 ± 0.1 across the whole ∼1 kpc bar. This indicates that the HCN(1–0) and HCO+(1–0) lines have intermediate optical depth, and that the corresponding
of the gas producing the emission is of order 104.5−6cm−3. We show that HCO+(1–0) is thermalized and HCN(1–0) is close to thermalization. The very tight correlation between the HCN(1–0) and HCO+(1–0) intensities across the 1 kpc bar suggests that this ratio is more sensitive to the relative abundance of the two species than to the gas density. We confirm an angular offset (∼10″) between the spatial distribution of molecular gas and the star formation sites. Finally, we find a breakdown of theL IR– correlation at high spatial resolution due to the effect of incomplete sampling of star-forming regions by HCN emission in IC 342. The scatter of theL IR– relation decreases as the spatial scale increases from 10″ to 30″ (170–510 pc), and is comparable to the scatter of the global relation at a scale of 340 pc. -
Abstract We present a12CO(
J = 2−1) survey of 60 local galaxies using data from the Atacama Compact Array as part of the Extragalactic Database for Galaxy Evolution: the ACA EDGE survey. These galaxies all have integral field spectroscopy from the CALIFA survey. Compared to other local galaxy surveys, ACA EDGE is designed to mitigate selection effects based on CO brightness and morphological type. Of the 60 galaxies in ACA EDGE, 36 are on the star formation main sequence, 13 are on the red sequence, and 11 lie in the “green valley” transition between these sequences. We test how star formation quenching processes affect the star formation rate (SFR) per unit molecular gas mass, SFEmol= SFR/M mol, and related quantities in galaxies with stellar masses 10 ≤ log[M ⋆/M ⊙] ≤ 11.5 covering the full range of morphological types. We observe a systematic decrease of the molecular-to-stellar mass fraction ( ) with a decreasing level of star formation activity, with green valley galaxies also having lower SFEmolthan galaxies on the main sequence. On average, we find that the spatially resolved SFEmolwithin the bulge region of green valley galaxies is lower than in the bulges of main-sequence galaxies if we adopt a constant CO-to-H2conversion factor,α CO. While efficiencies in main-sequence galaxies remain almost constant with galactocentric radius, in green valley galaxies, we note a systematic increase of SFEmol, , and specific SFR with increasing radius. As shown in previous studies, our results suggest that although gas depletion (or removal) seems to be the most important driver of the star formation quenching in galaxies transiting through the green valley, a reduction in star formation efficiency is also required during this stage. -
Abstract The EDGE-CALIFA survey provides spatially resolved optical integral-field unit and CO spectroscopy for 125 galaxies selected from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area Survey (CALIFA) Data Release 3 sample. The Extragalactic Database for Galaxy Evolution (EDGE) presents the spatially resolved products of the survey as pixel tables that reduce the oversampling in the original images and facilitate comparison of pixels from different images. By joining these pixel tables to lower-dimensional tables that provide radial profiles, integrated spectra, or global properties, it is possible to investigate the dependence of local conditions on large-scale properties. The database is freely accessible and has been utilized in several publications. We illustrate the use of this database and highlight the effects of CO upper limits on the inferred slopes of the local scaling relations between the stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), and H2surface densities. We find that the correlation between H2and SFR surface density is the tightest among the three relations.
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Abstract M82 is an archetypal starburst galaxy in the local Universe. The central burst of star formation, thought to be triggered by M82's interaction with other members in the M81 group, is driving a multiphase galaxy-scale wind away from the plane of the disk that has been studied across the electromagnetic spectrum. Here, we present new velocity-resolved observations of the [C
ii ] 158μ m line in the central disk and the southern outflow of M82 using the upGREAT instrument on board SOFIA. We also report the first detections of velocity-resolved (ΔV = 10 km s−1) [Cii ] emission in the outflow of M82 at projected distances of ≈1–2 kpc south of the galaxy center. We compare the [Cii ] line profiles to observations of CO and Hi and find that likely the majority (>55%) of the [Cii ] emission in the outflow is associated with the neutral atomic medium. We find that the fraction of [Cii ] actually outflowing from M82 is small compared to the bulk gas outside the midplane (which may be in a halo or tidal streamers), which has important implications for observations of [Cii ] outflows at higher redshift. Finally, by comparing the observed ratio of the [Cii ] and CO intensities to models of photodissociation regions, we estimate that the far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation field in the disk is ∼103.5G 0, in agreement with previous estimates. In the outflow, however, the FUV radiation field is 2–3 orders of magnitudes lower, which may explain the high fraction of [Cii ] arising from the neutral medium in the wind. -
Clusters, clouds, and correlations: relating young clusters to giant molecular clouds in M33 and M31
ABSTRACT We use young clusters and giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the galaxies M33 and M31 to constrain temporal and spatial scales in the star formation process. In M33, we compare the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER) catalogue of 1214 clusters with ages measured via colour–magnitude diagram (CMD) fitting to 444 GMCs identified from a new 35 pc resolution Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 12CO(2–1) survey. In M31, we compare the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) catalogue of 1249 clusters to 251 GMCs measured from a Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) 12CO(1–0) survey with 20 pc resolution. Through two-point correlation analysis, we find that young clusters have a high probability of being near other young clusters, but correlation between GMCs is suppressed by the cloud identification algorithm. By comparing the positions, we find that younger clusters are closer to GMCs than older clusters. Through cross-correlation analysis of the M33 cluster data, we find that clusters are statistically associated when they are ≤10 Myr old. Utilizing the high precision ages of the clusters, we find that clusters older than ≈18 Myr are uncorrelated with the molecular interstellar medium (ISM). Using the spatial coincidence of the youngest clusters and GMCs in M33, we estimate that clusters spend ≈4–6 Myr inside their parent GMC. Through similar analysis, we find that the GMCs in M33 have a total lifetime of ≈11–15 Myr. We also develop a drift model and show that the above correlations can be explained if the clusters in M33 have a 5–10 km s−1 velocity dispersion relative to the molecular ISM.
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Abstract We present13CO(
J = 1 → 0) observations for the EDGE-CALIFA survey, which is a mapping survey of 126 nearby galaxies at a typical spatial resolution of 1.5 kpc. Using detected12CO emission as a prior, we detect13CO in 41 galaxies via integrated line flux over the entire galaxy and in 30 galaxies via integrated line intensity in resolved synthesized beams. Incorporating our CO observations and optical IFU spectroscopy, we perform a systematic comparison between the line ratio and the properties of the stars and ionized gas. Higher values are found in interacting galaxies compared to those in noninteracting galaxies. The global slightly increases with infrared colorF 60/F 100but appears insensitive to other host-galaxy properties such as morphology, stellar mass, or galaxy size. We also present azimuthally averaged profiles for our sample up to a galactocentric radius of 0.4r 25(∼6 kpc), taking into account the13CO nondetections by spectral stacking. The radial profiles of are quite flat across our sample. Within galactocentric distances of 0.2r 25, the azimuthally averaged increases with the star formation rate. However, Spearman rank correlation tests show the azimuthally averaged does not strongly correlate with any other gas or stellar properties in general, especially beyond 0.2r 25from the galaxy centers. Our findings suggest that in the complex environments in galaxy disks, is not a sensitive tracer for ISM properties. Dynamical disturbances, like galaxy interactions or the presence of a bar, also have an overall impact on , which further complicates the interpretations of variations. -
Abstract Determining how the galactic environment, especially the high gas densities and complex dynamics in bar-fed galaxy centers, alters the star formation efficiency (SFE) of molecular gas is critical to understanding galaxy evolution. However, these same physical or dynamical effects also alter the emissivity properties of CO, leading to variations in the CO-to-H2conversion factor (
α CO) that impact the assessment of the gas column densities and thus of the SFE. To address such issues, we investigate the dependence ofα COon the local CO velocity dispersion at 150 pc scales using a new set of dust-basedα COmeasurements and propose a newα COprescription that accounts for CO emissivity variations across galaxies. Based on this prescription, we estimate the SFE in a sample of 65 galaxies from the PHANGS–Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array survey. We find increasing SFE toward high-surface-density regions like galaxy centers, while using a constant or metallicity-basedα COresults in a more homogeneous SFE throughout the centers and disks. Our prescription further reveals a mean molecular gas depletion time of 700 Myr in the centers of barred galaxies, which is overall three to four times shorter than in nonbarred galaxy centers or the disks. Across the galaxy disks, the depletion time is consistently around 2–3 Gyr, regardless of the choice ofα COprescription. All together, our results suggest that the high level of star formation activity in barred centers is not simply due to an increased amount of molecular gas, but also to an enhanced SFE compared to nonbarred centers or disk regions. -
Abstract The CO-to-H 2 conversion factor ( α CO ) is central to measuring the amount and properties of molecular gas. It is known to vary with environmental conditions, and previous studies have revealed lower α CO in the centers of some barred galaxies on kiloparsec scales. To unveil the physical drivers of such variations, we obtained Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array bands (3), (6), and (7) observations toward the inner ∼2 kpc of NGC 3627 and NGC 4321 tracing 12 CO, 13 CO, and C 18 O lines on ∼100 pc scales. Our multiline modeling and Bayesian likelihood analysis of these data sets reveal variations of molecular gas density, temperature, optical depth, and velocity dispersion, which are among the key drivers of α CO . The central 300 pc nuclei in both galaxies show strong enhancement of temperature T k ≳ 100 K and density n H 2 > 10 3 cm −3 . Assuming a CO-to-H 2 abundance of 3 × 10 −4 , we derive 4–15 times lower α CO than the Galactic value across our maps, which agrees well with previous kiloparsec-scale measurements. Combining the results with our previous work on NGC 3351, we find a strong correlation of α CO with low- J 12 CO optical depths ( τ CO ), as well as an anticorrelation with T k . The τ CO correlation explains most of the α CO variation in the three galaxy centers, whereas changes in T k influence α CO to second order. Overall, the observed line width and 12 CO/ 13 CO 2–1 line ratio correlate with τ CO variation in these centers, and thus they are useful observational indicators for α CO variation. We also test current simulation-based α CO prescriptions and find a systematic overprediction, which likely originates from the mismatch of gas conditions between our data and the simulations.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available June 1, 2024
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ABSTRACT Galactic bars can drive cold gas inflows towards the centres of galaxies. The gas transport happens primarily through the so-called bar dust lanes, which connect the galactic disc at kpc scales to the nuclear rings at hundreds of pc scales much like two gigantic galactic rivers. Once in the ring, the gas can fuel star formation activity, galactic outflows, and central supermassive black holes. Measuring the mass inflow rates is therefore important to understanding the mass/energy budget and evolution of galactic nuclei. In this work, we use CO datacubes from the PHANGS-ALMA survey and a simple geometrical method to measure the bar-driven mass inflow rate on to the nuclear ring of the barred galaxy NGC 1097. The method assumes that the gas velocity in the bar lanes is parallel to the lanes in the frame co-rotating with the bar, and allows one to derive the inflow rates from sufficiently sensitive and resolved position–position–velocity diagrams if the bar pattern speed and galaxy orientations are known. We find an inflow rate of $\dot{M}=(3.0 \pm 2.1)\, \rm M_\odot \, yr^{-1}$ averaged over a time span of 40 Myr, which varies by a factor of a few over time-scales of ∼10 Myr. Most of the inflow appears to be consumed by star formation in the ring, which is currently occurring at a star formation rate (SFR) of $\simeq\!1.8\!-\!2 \, \rm M_\odot \, yr^{-1}$, suggesting that the inflow is causally controlling the SFR in the ring as a function of time.