Issue |
A&A
Volume 522, November 2010
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A3 | |
Number of page(s) | 29 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201014441 | |
Published online | 26 October 2010 |
Molecular and atomic gas in the Local Group galaxy M 33*,**
1
Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux, Université de Bordeaux, OASU,
CNRS/INSU,
33271
Floirac,
France
e-mail: gratier@obs.u-bordeaux1.fr
2
IRAM, 300 rue de la piscine, 38406 Saint-Martin d’Hères,
France
3
Instituto Radioastronomia Milimetrica (IRAM),
Av. Divina Pastora 7, Nucleo
Central, 18012
Granada,
Spain
4
Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics, National
Observatory of Athens, I. Metaxa
& V. Pavlou, P. Penteli, 15236
Athens,
Greece
5
Max-Plank-Institut für Radioastronomy (MPIfR),
Auf dem Hügel 69,
53121
Bonn,
Germany
6
INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, LE Fermi, 5,
50125
Firenze,
Italy
7
Leiden Observatory, Leiden University,
PO Box 9513,
2300 RA
Leiden, The
Netherlands
8
Department of Astronomy - LGRT, University of Massachusetts -
Amherst, 710 north Pleasant
Street, Amherst,
MA
01002,
USA
9
Observatorio Astronomico Nacional (OAN) Observatorio de Madrid,
Alfonso XII 3,
28014- Madrid,
Spain
10
Observatoire de Paris, LERMA, CNRS, 61 Av. de l’Observatoire, 75014
Paris,
France
11
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD
21218,
USA
12
Department of Radio and Space Science, Chalmers University of
Technology, Onsala Observatory, 439 94
Onsala,
Sweden
13
CSIRO Astronomy & Space Science, Australia Telescope
National Facility, PO Box 76,
Epping
NSW
1710,
Australia
14
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research,
Landleven 12,
9747 AD
Groningen, The
Netherlands
15
1.Physikalisches Institut, Universität zu Köln,
Zülpicher Str. 77,
50937
Köln,
Germany
16
Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Tata Institute
of Fundamental Research, Homi
Bhabha Road, Mumbai
400005,
India
Received:
16
March
2010
Accepted:
11
June
2010
We present high-resolution large-scale observations of the molecular and atomic gas in the Local Group galaxy M 33. The observations were carried out using the HEterodyne Receiver Array (HERA) at the 30 m IRAM telescope in the CO(2–1) line, achieving a resolution of 12″ × 2.6 km s-1, enabling individual giant molecular clouds (GMCs) to be resolved. The observed region is 650 square arcminutes mainly along the major axis and out to a radius of 8.5 kpc, and covers entirely the 2′ × 40′ radial strip observed with the HIFI and PACS Spectrometers as part of the HERM33ES Herschel key program. The achieved sensitivity in main-beam temperature is 20–50 mK at 2.6 km s-1 velocity resolution. The CO(2–1) luminosity of the observed region is 1.7 ± 0.1 × 107 K km s-1 pc2 and is estimated to be 2.8 ± 0.3 × 107 K km s-1 pc2 for the entire galaxy, corresponding to H2 masses of 1.9 × 108 M⊙ and 3.3 × 108 M⊙ respectively (including He), calculated with N(H2)/ICO(1 − 0) twice the Galactic value due to the half-solar metallicity of M 33. The H i 21 cm VLA archive observations were reduced, and the mosaic was imaged and cleaned using the multi-scale task in the CASA software package, yielding a series of datacubes with resolutions ranging from 5″ to 25″. The H i mass within a radius of 8.5 kpc is estimated to be 1.4 × 109 M⊙ . The azimuthally averaged CO surface brightness decreases exponentially with a scale length of 1.9 ± 0.1 kpc whereas theatomic gas surface density is constant at ΣHi = 6 ± 2 M⊙ pc-2 deprojected to face-on. For an N(H2)/ICO(1 − 0) conversion factor twice that of the Milky Way, the central kiloparsec H2 surface density is ΣH2 = 8.5 ± 0.2 M⊙ pc-2. The star formation rate per unit molecular gas (SF efficiency, the rate of transformation of molecular gas into stars), as traced by the ratio of CO to Hα and FIR brightness, is constant with radius. The SFE, with a N(H2)/ICO(1 − 0) factor twice galactic, appears 2–4 times greater than for large spiral galaxies. A morphological comparison of molecular and atomic gas with tracers of star formation is presented showing good agreement between these maps both in terms of peaks and holes. A few exceptions are noted. Several spectra, including those of a molecular cloud situated more than 8 kpc from the galaxy center, are presented.
Key words: galaxies: individual: M 33 / Local Group / galaxies: evolution / galaxies: ISM / ISM: clouds / stars: formation
Figures A.1–A.15 are only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
FITS files of the IRAM data are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/522/A3
© ESO, 2010
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