Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Sep 1993
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993apj...414...98w&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 414, no. 1, p. 98-111.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
38
Carbon Monoxide, Interstellar Matter, Molecular Excitation, Molecular Gases, Spiral Galaxies, Star Formation Rate, Carbon 13, H Alpha Line, Milky Way Galaxy, Molecular Clouds
Scientific paper
We combine beam-matched (C-13)O, (C-12)O J = 3 - 2 and J = 2 - 1 line data to infer the molecular gas excitation conditions in the central 500 to 1600 pc diameters of a small sample of IR-bright external galaxies: NGC 253, IC 342, M83, Maffei 2, and NGC 6946. We find that the central 170 to 530 pc diameter regions have typical molecular gas densities ranging from approximately less than 10,000/cu cm (in M83) to approximately greater than 100,000/cu cm (in NGC 253) and that, outside of these regions, the densities are likely to be approximately less than 10,000/cu cm. The molecular clouds outside the inner 170-530 pc are at least as warm as the molecular clouds in our Galaxy. Column densities derived from integrated (C-13)O line strengths and H-alpha surface brightnesses suggest that the star formation rate is enhanced in the central 170-530 pc diameters by an order of magnitude over that inferred for the outer star-forming disks in spiral galaxies.
Baas F.
Bash Frank N.
Israel Frank P.
Jaffe Daniel T.
Maloney Philip R.
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