Context.
Molecular gas is a necessary fuel for star formation. The CO (1−0) transition is often used to deduce the total molecular hydrogen but is challenging to detect in low-metallicity galaxies in ...spite of the star formation taking place. In contrast, the C
II
λ
158
μ
m is relatively bright, highlighting a potentially important reservoir of H
2
that is not traced by CO (1−0) but is residing in the C
+
-emitting regions.
Aims.
Here we aim to explore a method to quantify the total H
2
mass (
M
H
2
) in galaxies and to decipher what parameters control the CO-dark reservoir.
Methods.
We present Cloudy grids of density, radiation field, and metallicity in terms of observed quantities, such as O
I
, C
I
, CO (1−0), C
II
,
L
TIR
, and the total
M
H
2
. We provide recipes based on these models to derive total
M
H
2
mass estimates from observations. We apply the models to the
Herschel
Dwarf Galaxy Survey, extracting the total
M
H
2
for each galaxy, and compare this to the H
2
determined from the observed CO (1−0) line. This allows us to quantify the reservoir of H
2
that is CO-dark and traced by the C
II
λ
158
μ
m.
Results.
We demonstrate that while the H
2
traced by CO (1−0) can be negligible, the C
II
λ
158
μ
m can trace the total H
2
. We find 70 to 100% of the total H
2
mass is not traced by CO (1−0) in the dwarf galaxies, but is well-traced by C
II
λ
158
μ
m. The CO-dark gas mass fraction correlates with the observed
L
C
II
/
L
CO(1−0)
ratio. A conversion factor for C
II
λ
158
μ
m to total H
2
and a new CO-to-total-
M
H
2
conversion factor as a function of metallicity are presented.
Conclusions.
While low-metallicity galaxies may have a feeble molecular reservoir as surmised from CO observations, the presence of an important reservoir of molecular gas that is not detected by CO can exist. We suggest a general recipe to quantify the total mass of H
2
in galaxies, taking into account the CO and C
II
observations. Accounting for this CO-dark H
2
gas, we find that the star-forming dwarf galaxies now fall on the Schmidt–Kennicutt relation. Their star-forming efficiency is rather normal because the reservoir from which they form stars is now more massive when introducing the C
II
measures of the total H
2
compared to the small amount of H
2
in the CO-emitting region.
Star formation is a multi-scale process that requires tracing cloud formation and stellar feedback within the local ( kpc) and global galaxy environment. We present first results from two large ...observing programs on the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)and the Very Large Telescope/Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer(VLT/MUSE), mapping cloud scales (1″ = 47 pc) in both molecular gas and star-forming tracers across 90 kpc2 of the central disk of NGC 628 to probe the physics of star formation. Systematic spatial offsets between molecular clouds and H ii regions illustrate the time evolution of star-forming regions. Using uniform sampling of both maps on 50-500 pc scales, we infer molecular gas depletion times of 1-3 Gyr, but also find that the increase of scatter in the star formation relation on small scales is consistent with gas and H ii regions being only weakly correlated at the cloud (50 pc) scale. This implies a short overlap phase for molecular clouds and H ii regions, which we test by directly matching our catalog of 1502 H ii regions and 738 GMCs. We uncover only 74 objects in the overlap phase, and we find depletion times >1 Gyr, significantly longer than previously reported for individual star-forming clouds in the Milky Way. Finally, we find no clear trends that relate variations in the depletion time observed on 500 pc scales to physical drivers (metallicity, molecular and stellar-mass surface density, molecular gas boundedness) on 50 pc scales.
The distribution of metals within a galaxy traces the baryon cycle and the buildup of galactic disks, but the detailed gas phase metallicity distribution remains poorly sampled. We have determined ...the gas phase oxygen abundances for 7138 H ii regions across the disks of eight nearby galaxies using Very Large Telescope/Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) optical integral field spectroscopy as part of the PHANGS-MUSE survey. After removing the first-order radial gradients present in each galaxy, we look at the statistics of the metallicity offset (ΔO/H) and explore azimuthal variations. Across each galaxy, we find low ( = 0.03-0.05 dex) scatter at any given radius, indicative of efficient mixing. We compare physical parameters for those H ii regions that are 1 outliers toward both enhanced and reduced abundances. Regions with enhanced abundances have high ionization parameter, higher H luminosity, lower H velocity dispersion, younger star clusters, and associated molecular gas clouds showing higher molecular gas densities. This indicates recent star formation has locally enriched the material. Regions with reduced abundances show increased H velocity dispersions, suggestive of mixing introducing more pristine material. We observe subtle azimuthal variations in half of the sample, but cannot always cleanly associate this with the spiral pattern. Regions with enhanced and reduced abundances are found distributed throughout the disk, and in half of our galaxies we can identify subsections of spiral arms with clearly associated metallicity gradients. This suggests spiral arms play a role in organizing and mixing the interstellar medium.
We identify stellar structures in the PHANGS sample of 74 nearby galaxies and construct morphological masks of sub-galactic environments based on
Spitzer
3.6
μ
m images. At the simplest level, we ...distinguish five environments: centres, bars, spiral arms, interarm regions, and discs without strong spirals. Slightly more sophisticated masks include rings and lenses, which are publicly released but not explicitly used in this paper. We examine trends with environment in the molecular gas content, star formation rate, and depletion time using PHANGS–ALMA CO(2–1) intensity maps and tracers of star formation. The interarm regions and discs without strong spirals clearly dominate in area, whereas molecular gas and star formation are quite evenly distributed among the five basic environments. We reproduce the molecular Kennicutt–Schmidt relation with a slope compatible with unity within the uncertainties and without significant slope differences among environments. In contrast to what has been suggested by early studies, we find that bars are not always deserts devoid of gas and star formation, but instead they show large diversity. Similarly, spiral arms do not account for most of the gas and star formation in disc galaxies, and they do not have shorter depletion times than the interarm regions. Spiral arms accumulate gas and star formation, without systematically boosting the star formation efficiency. Centres harbour remarkably high surface densities and on average shorter depletion times than other environments. Centres of barred galaxies show higher surface densities and wider distributions compared to the outer disc; yet, depletion times are similar to unbarred galaxies, suggesting highly intermittent periods of star formation when bars episodically drive gas inflow, without enhancing the central star formation efficiency permanently. In conclusion, we provide quantitative evidence that stellar structures in galaxies strongly affect the organisation of molecular gas and star formation, but their impact on star formation efficiency is more subtle.
Aims.
The complexity of star formation at the physical scale of molecular clouds is not yet fully understood. We investigate the mechanisms regulating the formation of stars in different environments ...within nearby star-forming galaxies from the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) sample.
Methods.
Integral field spectroscopic data and radio-interferometric observations of 18 galaxies were combined to explore the existence of the resolved star formation main sequence (Σ
stellar
versus Σ
SFR
), resolved Kennicutt–Schmidt relation (Σ
mol. gas
versus Σ
SFR
), and resolved molecular gas main sequence (Σ
stellar
versus Σ
mol. gas
), and we derived their slope and scatter at spatial resolutions from 100 pc to 1 kpc (under various assumptions).
Results.
All three relations were recovered at the highest spatial resolution (100 pc). Furthermore, significant variations in these scaling relations were observed across different galactic environments. The exclusion of non-detections has a systematic impact on the inferred slope as a function of the spatial scale. Finally, the scatter of the Σ
mol. gas + stellar
versus Σ
SFR
correlation is smaller than that of the resolved star formation main sequence, but higher than that found for the resolved Kennicutt–Schmidt relation.
Conclusions.
The resolved molecular gas main sequence has the tightest relation at a spatial scale of 100 pc (scatter of 0.34 dex), followed by the resolved Kennicutt–Schmidt relation (0.41 dex) and then the resolved star formation main sequence (0.51 dex). This is consistent with expectations from the timescales involved in the evolutionary cycle of molecular clouds. Surprisingly, the resolved Kennicutt–Schmidt relation shows the least variation across galaxies and environments, suggesting a tight link between molecular gas and subsequent star formation. The scatter of the three relations decreases at lower spatial resolutions, with the resolved Kennicutt–Schmidt relation being the tightest (0.27 dex) at a spatial scale of 1 kpc. Variation in the slope of the resolved star formation main sequence among galaxies is partially due to different detection fractions of Σ
SFR
with respect to Σ
stellar
.
We use integral field spectroscopy from the PHANGS–MUSE survey, which resolves the ionised interstellar medium structure at ∼50 pc resolution in 19 nearby spiral galaxies, to study the origin of the ...diffuse ionised gas (DIG). We examine the physical conditions of the diffuse gas by first removing morphologically defined H
II
regions and then binning the low-surface-brightness areas to achieve significant detections of the key nebular lines in the DIG. A simple model for the leakage and propagation of ionising radiation from H
II
regions is able to reproduce the observed distribution of H
α
in the DIG. This model infers a typical mean free path for the ionising radiation of 1.9 kpc for photons propagating within the disc plane. Leaking radiation from H
II
regions also explains the observed decrease in line ratios of low-ionisation species (S
II
/H
α
, N
II
/H
α
, and O
I
/H
α
) with increasing H
α
surface brightness (Σ
H
α
). Emission from hot low-mass evolved stars, however, is required to explain: (1) the enhanced low-ionisation line ratios observed in the central regions of some of the galaxies in our sample; (2) the observed trends of a flat or decreasing O
III
/H
β
with Σ
H
α
; and (3) the offset of some DIG regions from the typical locus of H
II
regions in the Baldwin–Phillips–Terlevich (BPT) diagram, extending into the area of low-ionisation (nuclear) emission-line regions (LINERs). Hot low-mass evolved stars make a small contribution to the energy budget of the DIG (2% of the galaxy-integrated H
α
emission), but their harder spectra make them fundamental contributors to O
III
emission. The DIG might result from a superposition of two components, an energetically dominant contribution from young stars and a more diffuse background of harder ionising photons from old stars. This unified framework bridges observations of the Milky Way DIG with LI(N)ER-like emission observed in nearby galaxy bulges.
Context. Star formation activity is an important driver of galaxy evolution and is influenced by the physical properties of the interstellar medium. Dwarf galaxies allow us to understand how the ...propagation of radiation and the physical conditions of the different ISM phases are affected by the low-metallicity environment. Aims. Our objective is to investigate the physical properties of the ionized gas of the low-metallicity dwarf galaxy, IC 10, at various spatial scales: from individual H II regions to the entire galaxy scale and examine whether diagnostics for integrated measurements introduce bias in the results. Methods. We modeled the ionized gas combining the mid- and far-infrared fine-structure cooling lines observed with Spitzer/IRS and Herschel/PACS, with the photoionization code CLOUDY. The free parameters of the models are the age of the stellar cluster, the density, and the ionization parameter of the ionized gas as well as the depth of the cloud. The latter is used to investigate the leakage of the ionizing photons from the analyzed regions of IC 10. We investigated H II regions in the main star-forming body, on scales of ~25 pc, three in the main star-forming region in the center of the galaxy and two on the first arc. We then considered larger sizes on the scale of ~200 pc. Results. Most clumps have almost-identical properties, density ~102–102.6 cm−3, ionization parameter between 10−2.2 and 10−1.6, and age of the stellar cluster ~5.5 Myr. All of them are matter-bounded regions, allowing ionizing photons to leak. The relatively uniform physical properties of the clumps suggest a common origin for their star formation activity, which could be related to the feedback from stellar winds or supernovae of a previous generation of stars. The properties derived for ~200 pc size “zones” have similar properties as the H II regions they encompass, but with the larger regions tending to be more radiation bounded. Finally, we investigated the fraction of CII 157.7 μm, SiII 34.8 μm and FeII 25.9 μm emission arising from the ionized gas phase and we find that most of the emission originates from the neutral gas, not from the ionized gas.
Abstract
We report SOFIA/GREAT observations of high-
J
CO lines and C
ii
observations of the super star cluster candidate H72.97-69.39 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which is in its very early ...formation stage. We use our observations to determine if shocks are heating the gas or if photon-dominated regions (PDRs) are being heated by local far-UV radiation. We use a PDR model and a shock model to determine whether the CO and C
ii
lines arise from PDRs or shocks. We can reproduce the observed high-
J
CO and C
ii
emission with a clumpy PDR model with the following properties: a density of 10
4.7
cm
−3
, a mass of 10
4
M
⊙
, and UV radiation of 10
3.5
in units of Draine field. Comparison with the ALMA beam-filling factor suggests a higher density within the uncertainty of the fit. We find the lower-limit C
ii
/total infrared (TIR) ratio (
ϵ
) traced by C
ii
/TIR to be 0.026%, lower than other known young star-forming regions in the LMC. Our shock models may explain the CO (16−15) and CO (11−10) emission lines with shock velocity of 8–11 km s
−1
, pre-shock density of 10
4
–10
5
cm
−3
, and
G
UV
= 0 in units of Draine field. However, the C
ii
line emission cannot be explained by a shock model, thus it is originating in a different gas component. Observations of O
i
63
μ
m predicted to be 1.1 × 10
−13
W m
−2
by PDR models and 7.8 × 10
−15
W m
−2
by shock models will help distinguish between the PDR and shock scenarios.
Context. The neutral interstellar medium of galaxies acts as a reservoir to fuel star formation. The dominant heating and cooling mechanisms in this phase are uncertain in extremely metal-poor ...star-forming galaxies. The low dust-to-gas mass ratio and low polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon abundance in such objects suggest that the traditional photoelectric effect heating may not be effective. Aims. Our objective is to identify the dominant thermal mechanisms in one such galaxy, I Zw 18 (1/30Z⊙), assess the diagnostic value of fine-structure cooling lines, and estimate the molecular gas content. Even though molecular gas is an important catalyst and tracer of star formation, constraints on the molecular gas mass remain elusive in the most metal-poor galaxies. Methods. Building on a previous photoionization model describing the giant H ii region of I Zw 18-NW within a multi-sector topology, we provide additional constraints using, in particular, the C ii 157 μm and O i 63 μm lines and the dust mass recently measured with the Herschel Space Telescope. Results. The heating of the H i region appears to be mainly due to photoionization by radiation from a bright X-ray binary source, while the photoelectric effect is negligible. Significant cosmic ray heating is not excluded. Inasmuch as X-ray heating dominates in the H i gas, the infrared fine-structure lines provide an average X-ray luminosity of order 4 × 1040 erg s-1 over the last few 104 yr in the galaxy. The upper limits to the Ne v lines provide strong constraints on the soft X-ray flux arising from the binary. A negligible mass of H2 is predicted. Nonetheless, up to ~107 M⊙ of H2 may be hidden in a few sufficiently dense clouds of order ≲5 pc (≲0.05′′) in size. Regardless of the presence of significant amounts of H2 gas, C ii and O i do not trace the so-called “CO-dark gas”, but they trace the almost purely atomic medium. Although the C ii+O i to total infrared ratio in I Zw 18 is similar to values in more metal-rich sources (~1%), it cannot be safely used as a photoelectric heating efficiency proxy. This ratio seems to be kept stable owing to a correlation between the X-ray luminosity and the star formation rate. Conclusions. X-ray heating could be an important process in extremely metal-poor sources. The lack of photoelectric heating due to the low dust-to-gas ratio tends to be compensated for by the larger occurrence and power of X-ray binaries in low-metallicity galaxies. We speculate that X-ray heating may quench star formation.
ABSTRACT
We combine data from ALMA and MUSE to study the resolved (∼300 pc scale) star formation relation (star formation rate, SFR, versus molecular gas surface density) in cluster galaxies. Our ...sample consists of nine Fornax cluster galaxies, including spirals, ellipticals, and dwarfs, covering a stellar mass range of ∼108.8–1011 M⊙. CO(1-0) and extinction corrected Hα were used as tracers for the molecular gas mass and SFR, respectively. We compare our results with Kennicutt and Bigiel et al. Furthermore, we create depletion time maps to reveal small-scale variations in individual galaxies. We explore these further in FCC290, using the ‘uncertainty principle for star formation’ (Kruijssen & Longmore) to estimate molecular cloud lifetimes, which we find to be short (<10 Myr) in this galaxy. Galaxy-averaged depletion times are compared with other parameters such as stellar mass and cluster-centric distance. We find that the star formation relation in the Fornax cluster is close to those from Kennicutt and Bigiel et al., but overlaps mostly with the shortest depletion times predicted by Bigiel et al. This slight decrease in depletion time is mostly driven by dwarf galaxies with disturbed molecular gas reservoirs close to the virial radius. In FCC90, a dwarf galaxy with a molecular gas tail, we find that depletion times are a factor ≳10 higher in its tail than in its stellar body.
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