Publication:
Systematic Variations of CO J=2-1/1-0 Ratio and Their Implications in The Nearby Barred Spiral Galaxy M83

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Full text at PDC
Publication Date
2020-02-10
Advisors (or tutors)
Editors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citations
Google Scholar
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
We present spatial variations of the CO J = 2−1/1–0 line ratio (R_(21/10)) in the barred spiral galaxy M83 using Total Power Array (single-dish telescopes) data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. While the intensities of these two lines correlate tightly, R_(21/10) varies over the disk, with a disk average ratio of 0.69, and shows the galactic center and a two-arm spiral pattern. It is high (>̰0.7) in regions of high molecular gas surface density (Σ_(mol)), but ranges from low to high ratios in regions of low Σ_(mol). The ratio correlates well with the spatial distributions and intensities of far-ultraviolet (FUV) and infrared (IR) emissions, with FUV being the best correlated. It also correlates better with the ratio of specific intensities at 70 and 350 μm, a proxy for dust temperature, than with the IR intensities. Taken together, these results suggest either a direct or indirect link between the dust heating by the interstellar radiation field and the condition of giant molecular clouds (GMCs), even though no efficient mechanism is known for a thermal coupling of dust and bulk gas in GMCs. We speculate that the large spread of R_(21/10)in low Σ_(mol) regions, mostly at the downstream sides of spiral arms, may be due to the evolution of massive stars after spiral arm passage. Having in a late phase escaped from the spiral arms and their parental clouds, they may contribute to the dust heating by FUV and gas heating by cosmic rays produced by supernovae.
Description
© 2020. The American Astronomical Society. Artículo firmado por 21 autores. This Letter makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/ JAO.ALMA#2013.1.01161.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2015.1.00 121.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2016.1.00386.S, and ADS/JAO. ALMA#2017.1.00079.S. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/ NRAO, and NAOJ. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. J.K. acknowledges support from NSF through grant AST-1812847. The work of L.C.H. was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (11721303, 11991052) and the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFA0400702). K.S. was supported by MOST 108-2112-M-001-015. We also thank the anonymous referee.
UCM subjects
Unesco subjects
Keywords
Citation
Collections