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  • Molecular gas and dust prop...
    Herrero-Illana, R.; Privon, G. C.; Evans, A. S.; Díaz-Santos, T.; Pérez-Torres, M. Á.; U, V.; Alberdi, A.; Iwasawa, K.; Armus, L.; Aalto, S.; Mazzarella, J.; Chu, J.; Sanders, D. B.; Barcos-Muñoz, L.; Charmandaris, V.; Linden, S. T.; Yoon, I.; Frayer, D. T.; Inami, H.; Kim, D.-C.; Borish, H. J.; Conway, J.; Murphy, E. J.; Song, Y.; Stierwalt, S.; Surace, J.

    Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin), 08/2019, Letnik: 628
    Journal Article

    We present IRAM-30 m Telescope 12CO and 13CO observations of a sample of 55 luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs and ULIRGs) in the local universe. This sample is a subset of the Great Observatory All-Sky LIRG Survey (GOALS), for which we use ancillary multi-wavelength data to better understand their interstellar medium and star formation properties. Fifty-three (96%) of the galaxies are detected in 12CO, and 29 (52%) are also detected in 13CO above a 3σ level. The median full width at zero intensity (FWZI) velocity of the CO line emission is 661 km s−1, and ∼54% of the galaxies show a multi-peak CO profile. Herschel photometric data is used to construct the far-IR spectral energy distribution of each galaxy, which are fit with a modified blackbody model that allows us to derive dust temperatures and masses, and infrared luminosities. We make the assumption that the gas-to-dust mass ratio of (U)LIRGs is comparable to local spiral galaxies with a similar stellar mass (i.e., gas/dust of mergers is comparable to their progenitors) to derive a CO-to-H2 conversion factor of ⟨α⟩ = 1.8−0.8+1.3 M⊙ ⟨ α ⟩ = 1 . 8 − 0.8 + 1.3 M ⊙ $ \langle\alpha\rangle=1.8^{+1.3}_{-0.8}\,M_\odot $ (K km s−1 pc2)−1; such a value is comparable to that derived for (U)LIRGs based on dynamical mass arguments. We derive gas depletion times of 400 − 600 Myr for the (U)LIRGs, compared to the 1.3 Gyr for local spiral galaxies. Finally, we re-examine the relationship between the 12CO/13CO ratio and dust temperature, confirming a transition to elevated ratios in warmer systems.