The relationship between the carbon monoxide intensity and the radio continuum emission in spiral galaxies

Details The relationship between the carbon monoxide intensity and the radio continuum emission in spiral galaxies The relationship between the carbon monoxide intensity and the radio continuum emission in spiral galaxies

Dec 1991

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991apj...382..475a&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 382, Dec. 1, 1991, p. 475-482. Research supported by University of Illinois

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

40

Carbon Monoxide, Interstellar Matter, Radio Emission, Spiral Galaxies, Brightness Temperature, Nonthermal Radiation, Star Formation, Starburst Galaxies, Synchrotron Radiation

Scientific paper

The relationship between the velocity-integrated CO emission and the nonthermal radio continuum brightness in the disks of normal spiral galaxies is examined on a variety of length scales. On a global scale, the total CO intensity correlates strongly with the total radio continuum flux density for a sample of 31 galaxies. On scales of about 2 kpc or more in the disk of individual galaxies, it is found that the ratio I(CO)/T(20) remains fairly constant over the entire disk as well as from galaxy to galaxy. For the eight spirals in the sample, the disk-averaged values of I(CO)/T(20) range from 0.6-2.4, with the average over all eight galaxies being 1.3 +/- 0.6. It is concluded that what these various length scales actually trace are differences in the primary heating mechanism of the gas in the beam. The observed relationship between CO and nonthermal radio continuum emission can be explained by assuming that molecular gas in galactic disks is heated primarily by cosmic rays. The observed relationship is used to show that the brightness of synchrotron emission is proportional to n(cr) exp 0.4 - 0.9 in galactic disks.

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