scholarly journals Major impact from a minor merger

2018 ◽  
Vol 615 ◽  
pp. A122 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. König ◽  
S. Aalto ◽  
S. Muller ◽  
J. S. Gallagher III ◽  
R. J. Beswick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Brightness Temperature ◽  
Central Region ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Dense Gas ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds ◽  
Minor Mergers ◽  
Co Emission

Context. Minor mergers are important processes contributing significantly to how galaxies evolve across the age of the Universe. Their impact on the growth of supermassive black holes and star formation is profound – about half of the star formation activity in the local Universe is the result of minor mergers. Aims. The detailed study of dense molecular gas in galaxies provides an important test of the validity of the relation between star formation rate and HCN luminosity on different galactic scales – from whole galaxies to giant molecular clouds in their molecular gas-rich centers. Methods. We use observations of HCN and HCO+ 1−0 with NOEMA and of CO3−2 with the SMA to study the properties of the dense molecular gas in the Medusa merger (NGC 4194) at 1′′ resolution. In particular, we compare the distribution of these dense gas tracers with CO2−1 high-resolution maps in the Medusa merger. To characterize gas properties, we calculate the brightness temperature ratios between the three tracers and use them in conjunction with a non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) radiative line transfer model. Results. The gas represented by HCN and HCO+ 1−0, and CO3−2 does not occupy the same structures as the less dense gas associated with the lower-J CO emission. Interestingly, the only emission from dense gas is detected in a 200 pc region within the “Eye of the Medusa”, an asymmetric 500 pc off-nuclear concentration of molecular gas. Surprisingly, no HCN or HCO+ is detected for the extended starburst of the Medusa merger. Additionally, there are only small amounts of HCN or HCO+ associated with the active galactic nucleus. The CO3−2/2−1 brightness temperature ratio inside “the Eye” is ~2.5 – the highest ratio found so far – implying optically thin CO emission. The CO2−1/HCN 1−0 (~9.8) and CO2−1/HCO+ 1−0 (~7.9) ratios show that the dense gas filling factor must be relatively high in the central region, consistent with the elevated CO3−1/2−1 ratio. Conclusions. The line ratios reveal an extreme, fragmented molecular cloud population inside the Eye with large bulk temperatures (T > 300 K) and high gas densities (n(H2) > 104 cm-3). This is very different from the cool, self-gravitating structures of giant molecular clouds normally found in the disks of galaxies. The Eye of the Medusa is found at an interface between a large-scale minor axis inflow and the central region of the Medusa. Hence, the extreme conditions inside the Eye may be the result of the radiative and mechanical feedback from a deeply embedded, young and massive super star cluster formed due to the gas pile-up at the intersection. Alternatively, shocks from the inflowing gas entering the central region of the Medusa may be strong enough to shock and fragment the gas. For both scenarios, however, it appears that the HCN and HCO+ dense gas tracers are not probing star formation, but instead a post-starburst and/or shocked ISM that is too hot and fragmented to form newstars. Thus, caution is advised in taking the detection of emission from dense gas tracers as evidence of ongoing or imminent star formation.

scholarly journals The global star formation law: from dense cores to extreme starbursts

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (S237) ◽  
pp. 331-335
Author(s):  
Yu Gao
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Linear Correlation ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Gas Content ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds ◽  
Active Star ◽  
Dense Cores ◽  
The Galaxy

AbstractActive star formation (SF) is tightly related to the dense molecular gas in the giant molecular clouds' dense cores. Our HCN (measure of the dense molecular gas) survey in 65 galaxies (including 10 ultraluminous galaxies) reveals a tight linear correlation between HCN and IR (SF rate) luminosities, whereas the correlation between IR and CO (measure of the total molecular gas) luminosities is nonlinear. This suggests that the global SF rate depends more intimately upon the amount of dense molecular gas than the total molecular gas content. This linear relationship extends to both the dense cores in the Galaxy and the hyperluminous extreme starbursts at high-redshift. Therefore, the global SF law in dense gas appears to be linear all the way from dense cores to extreme starbursts, spanning over nine orders of magnitude in IR luminosity.

scholarly journals Inefficient jet-induced star formation in Centaurus A

2017 ◽  
Vol 608 ◽  
pp. A98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. Salomé ◽  
P. Salomé ◽  
M.-A. Miville-Deschênes ◽  
F. Combes ◽  
S. Hamer
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Data Cube ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Star Forming Regions ◽  
Co Emission ◽  
Centaurus A

NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) is one of the best targets to study AGN feedback in the local Universe. At 13.5 kpc from the galaxy, optical filaments with recent star formation lie along the radio jet direction. This region is a testbed for positive feedback, here through jet-induced star formation. Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) observations have revealed strong CO emission in star-forming regions and in regions with no detected tracers of star formation activity. In cases where star formation is observed, this activity appears to be inefficient compared to the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation. We used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to map the 12CO(1–0) emission all along the filaments of NGC 5128 at a resolution of 1.3′′ ~ 23.8pc. We find that the CO emission is clumpy and is distributed in two main structures: (i) the Horseshoe complex, located outside the HI cloud, where gas is mostly excited by shocks and where no star formation is observed, and (ii) the Vertical filament, located at the edge of the HI shell, which is a region of moderate star formation. We identified 140 molecular clouds using a clustering method applied to the CO data cube. A statistical study reveals that these clouds have very similar physical properties, such as size, velocity dispersion, and mass, as in the inner Milky Way. However, the range of radius available with the present ALMA observations does not enable us to investigate whether or not the clouds follow the Larson relation. The large virial parameter αvir of the clouds suggests that gravity is not dominant and clouds are not gravitationally unstable. Finally, the total energy injection in the northern filaments of Centaurus A is of the same order as in the inner part of the Milky Way. The strong CO emission detected in the northern filaments is an indication that the energy injected by the jet acts positively in the formation of dense molecular gas. The relatively high virial parameter of the molecular clouds suggests that the injected kinetic energy is too strong for star formation to be efficient. This is particularly the case in the horseshoe complex, where the virial parameter is the largest and where strong CO is detected with no associated star formation. This is the first evidence of AGN positive feedback in the sense of forming molecular gas through shocks, associated with low star formation efficiency due to turbulence injection by the interaction with the radio jet.

scholarly journals CO Observations of Bright IRAS Galaxies

1987 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 653-653
Author(s):  
D. B. Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Far Infrared ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Infrared Excess ◽  
Luminous Galaxies ◽  
Be Star ◽  
Co Emission ◽  
Co Observations

CO emission has been detected from 75 bright infrared galaxies with CZ = 2 000 – 16 000 km/s. These include the most distant and the most luminous galaxies (Arp 55, IR 1713+63) yet detected in CO. All of these galaxies are rich in molecular gas with Mtotal (H2) = 2 × 109 −6x1010 M⊙, and they have a strong far-infrared excess, with LFIR/LB = 2-40 and LFIR (40-400μ) = 1010 – 3 × 1012 L⊙. The primary luminosity source appears to be star formation in molecular clouds. A strong correlation is found between the FIR and 21-cm continuum flux, implying that the IMF is independent of the star formation rate. The ratio LFIR/M(H2) provides a measure of the current rate of star-formation, which is found to be a factor 3-20 larger in these galaxies than for the ensemble of molecular clouds in the Milky Way. VLA maps plus a few high resolution (14″-30″) CO (1-0) and CO (2-1) maps suggest that most of the luminosity comes from core regions 1-3 kpc in size. The abnormal concentration of molecular gas in these galactic cores is presumably the result of a collision or strong interaction with a nearby companion.

scholarly journals Tracing the cold molecular gas reservoir through dust emission in the SMC

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S256) ◽  
pp. 148-153
Author(s):  
Caroline Bot ◽  
Mónica Rubio ◽  
François Boulanger ◽  
Marcus Albrecht ◽  
Frank Bertoldi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Virial Theorem ◽  
Spectral Energy Distribution ◽  
Dust Emission ◽  
Spectral Energy ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds ◽  
Gas Reservoir ◽  
Co Emission ◽  
Co Observations

AbstractThe amount of molecular gas is a key for understanding the future star formation in a galaxy. However, this quantity is difficult to infer as the cold H2 is almost impossible to observe and, especially at low metallicities, CO only traces part of the clouds, keeping large envelopes of H2 hidden from observations. In this context, millimeter dust emission tracing the cold and dense regions can be used as a tracer to unveil the total molecular gas masses. I present studies of a sample of giant molecular clouds in the Small Magellanic Cloud. These clouds have been observed in the millimeter and sub-millimeter continuum of dust emission: with SIMBA/SEST at 1.2 mm and the new LABOCA bolometer on APEX at 870 μm. Combining these with radio data for each cloud, the spectral energy distribution of dust emission are obtained and gas masses are inferred. The molecular cloud masses are found to be systematically larger than the virial masses deduced from CO emission. Therefore, the molecular gas mass in the SMC has been underestimated by CO observations, even through the dynamical masses. This result confirms what was previously observed by Bot et al. (2007). We discuss possible interpretations of the mass discrepancy observed: in the giant molecular clouds of the SMC, part of cloud's support against gravity could be given by a magnetic field. Alternatively, the inclusion of surface terms in the virial theorem for turbulent clouds could reproduce the observed results and the giant molecular clouds could be transient structures.

scholarly journals FOREST Unbiased Galactic Plane Imaging Survey with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope (FUGIN). V. Dense gas mass fraction of molecular gas in the Galactic plane

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazufumi Torii ◽  
Shinji Fujita ◽  
Atsushi Nishimura ◽  
Kazuki Tokuda ◽  
Mikito Kohno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Galactic Plane ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Galactic Rotation ◽  
Dense Gas ◽  
Gas Formation ◽  
Star Formation In Galaxies ◽  
Fractional Mass

Abstract Recent observations of the nearby Galactic molecular clouds indicate that the dense gas in molecular clouds has quasi-universal properties on star formation, and observational studies of extra-galaxies have shown a galactic-scale correlation between the star formation rate (SFR) and the surface density of molecular gas. To reach a comprehensive understanding of both properties, it is important to quantify the fractional mass of dense gas in molecular clouds, fDG. In particular, for the Milky Way (MW) there are no previous studies resolving fDG disk over a scale of several kpc. In this study, fDG was measured over 5 kpc in the first quadrant of the MW, based on the CO J = 1–0 data in l = 10°–50° obtained as part of the FOREST Unbiased Galactic plane Imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope (FUGIN) project. The total molecular mass was measured using 12CO, and the dense gas mass was estimated using C18O. The fractional masses, including fDG, in the region within ±30% of the distances to the tangential points of the Galactic rotation (e.g., the Galactic Bar, Far-3 kpc Arm, Norma Arm, Scutum Arm, Sagittarius Arm, and inter-arm regions) were measured. As a result, an averaged fDG of $2.9^{+2.6}_{-2.6}$% was obtained for the entirety of the target region. This low value suggests that dense gas formation is the primary factor in inefficient star formation in galaxies. It was also found that fDG shows large variations depending on the structures in the MW disk. In the Galactic arms, fDG was estimated to be ∼4%–5%, while in the bar and inter-arm regions it was as small as ∼0.1%–0.4%. These results indicate that the formation/destruction processes of the dense gas and their timescales are different for different regions in the MW, leading to differences in Star formation efficiencies.

scholarly journals Properties of giant molecular clouds in the strongly barred galaxy NGC 1300

2020 ◽  
Vol 493 (4) ◽  
pp. 5045-5061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumiya Maeda ◽  
Kouji Ohta ◽  
Yusuke Fujimoto ◽  
Asao Habe
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
High Angular Resolution ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds ◽  
Star Formation Activity ◽  
Kolmogorov Smirnov ◽  
Formation Efficiency ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Smirnov Test

ABSTRACT Star formation activity depends on galactic-scale environments. To understand the variations in star formation activity, comparing the properties of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) among environments with different star formation efficiency (SFE) is necessary. We thus focus on a strongly barred galaxy to investigate the impact of the galactic environment on the GMC properties, because the SFE is clearly lower in bar regions than in arm regions. In this paper, we present the 12CO(1 − 0) observations towards the western bar, arm, and bar-end regions of the strongly barred galaxy NGC 1300 with ALMA 12-m array at a high angular resolution of ∼40 pc. We detected GMCs associated with the dark lanes not only in the arm and bar-end regions but also in the bar region, where massive star formation is not seen. Using the CPROPS algorithm, we identified and characterized 233 GMCs across the observed regions. Based on the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, we find that there is virtually no significant variations in GMC properties (e.g. radius, velocity dispersion, molecular gas mass, and virial parameter) among the bar, arm, and bar-end region. These results suggest that systematic differences in the physical properties of the GMCs are not the cause for SFE differences with environments, and that there should be other mechanisms which control the SFE of the GMCs such as fast cloud–cloud collisions in NGC 1300.

scholarly journals NRO Legacy Project: M33 all Disk Survey of Giant Molecular Clouds with NRO 45-m and ASTE 10-m telescopes

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S277) ◽  
pp. 67-70
Author(s):  
N. Kuno ◽  
T. Tosaki ◽  
S. Onodera ◽  
R. Miura ◽  
K. Muraoka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Surface Density ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Evolutionary Stage ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds ◽  
Radio Observatory ◽  
Active Star ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
The Difference

AbstractWe have conducted all disk imaging of M33 in 12CO(1-0) using the 45-m telescope at Nobeyama Radio Observatory. We present preliminary results of this project. The spatial resolution of ~ 80 pc is comparable to the size of GMCs. The identified GMCs show wide variety in star forming activity. The variety can be regarded as the difference of their evolutionary stage. We found that Kennicutt-Schmidt law breaks in GMC scale (~ 80 pc), although it is still valid in 1 kpc scale. The correlation between molecular gas fraction, fmol = Σ(H2)/Σ(HI+H2) and gas surface density shows two distinct sequences and shows that fmol tends to be higher near the center. We also made partial mapping 12CO(3-2) with ASTE telescope. These data show that the variation of physical properties of molecular gas are correlated with the GMC evolution and mass. That is, GMCs with more active star formation and more mass tend to have higher fraction of dense gas.

scholarly journals An observational study of GMCs in the Magellanic Clouds with the ASTE telescope

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S256) ◽  
pp. 256-260
Author(s):  
Tetsuhiro Minamidani ◽  
Norikazu Mizuno ◽  
Yoji Mizuno ◽  
Akiko Kawamura ◽  
Toshikazu Onishi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Observational Study ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Cluster Formation ◽  
Large Magellanic Cloud ◽  
Magellanic Clouds ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds ◽  
Evolutionary Sequence

AbstractWe report the results of the submillimeter observations with the ASTE 10 m telescope toward the giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the Magellanic Clouds to reveal the physical properties of dense molecular gas, the principle sites of star and cluster formation. Six GMCs in the Large Magellanic Cloud have been mapped in the 12CO(J = 3 − 2) transition and 32 clumps are identified in these GMCs at a resolution of 5 pc. These data are combined with 12CO(J = 1 − 0) and 13CO(J = 1 − 0) results and compared with LVG calculations to derive the density and temperature of clumps. The derived density and temperature are distributed in wide ranges. We have made small mapping observations in the 13CO(J = 3 − 2) transition toward 9 representative peak positions of clumps to determine the density and temperature of clumps. These physical properties are constrained well and there are differences in density and temperature among clumps. We suggest that these differences of clump properties represent an evolutionary sequence of GMCs in terms of density increase leading to star formation.

scholarly journals Effects of initial density profiles on massive star cluster formation in giant molecular clouds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingtian Chen ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
Mark Vogelsberger
Keyword(s):  
Angular Momentum ◽  
Star Formation ◽  
Molecular Clouds ◽  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Cluster Formation ◽  
Initial Density ◽  
Giant Molecular Clouds ◽  
Density Profiles ◽  
Stellar Feedback ◽  
Gas Accretion

Abstract We perform a suite of hydrodynamic simulations to investigate how initial density profiles of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) affect their subsequent evolution. We find that the star formation duration and integrated star formation efficiency of the whole clouds are not sensitive to the choice of different profiles but are mainly controlled by the interplay between gravitational collapse and stellar feedback. Despite this similarity, GMCs with different profiles show dramatically different modes of star formation. For shallower profiles, GMCs first fragment into many self-gravitation cores and form sub-clusters that distributed throughout the entire clouds. These sub-clusters are later assembled ‘hierarchically’ to central clusters. In contrast, for steeper profiles, a massive cluster is quickly formed at the center of the cloud and then gradually grows its mass via gas accretion. Consequently, central clusters that emerged from clouds with shallower profiles are less massive and show less rotation than those with the steeper profiles. This is because 1) a significant fraction of mass and angular momentum in shallower profiles is stored in the orbital motion of the sub-clusters that are not able to merge into the central clusters 2) frequent hierarchical mergers in the shallower profiles lead to further losses of mass and angular momentum via violent relaxation and tidal disruption. Encouragingly, the degree of cluster rotations in steeper profiles is consistent with recent observations of young and intermediate-age clusters. We speculate that rotating globular clusters are likely formed via an ‘accretion’ mode from centrally-concentrated clouds in the early Universe.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document