The Star Formation Law at sub-kpc Resolution in THINGS

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Scientific paper

We use new high resolution and high sensitivity observations of gas, star formation, and dust to study the relationship between the ISM and star formation in nearby galaxies. We combine HI data from THINGS ("The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey") with ancillary CO, Spitzer 24 micron and GALEX UV data to build a complete picture of the neutral ISM and star formation in 18 nearby galaxies. Our sample spans a wide range in galaxy parameter space, e.g. HI mass, metallicity, and star formation rate. We measure the star formation (i.e. Schmidt/Kennicutt) law pixel-by-pixel at sub-kpc resolution in each galaxy and find that a power law with index near unity relates star formation surface density and molecular gas surface density in spiral galaxies. By contrast HI shows little or no correlation with star formation in most galaxies. We find that the ratio of HI to H2 is a strong function of radius and thus environment in a galaxy and compare this measurement with predicted star formation recipes from the literature.

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