Carbon monoxide (CO) is the best tracer of Galactic molecular hydrogen H_2_. Its lowest rotational emission lines are in the radio regime, and thanks to Galactic rotation, emission at different distances is Doppler shifted. For a given gas flow model, the observed spectra can thus be deprojected along the line of sight to infer the gas distribution. We used the CO-line survey of Dame et al. (2001ApJ...547..792D) to reconstruct the three-dimensional density of H_2_. We considered the deprojection as a Bayesian variational inference problem. The posterior distribution of the gas densities allowed us to estimate the mean and uncertainty of the reconstructed density. Unlike most of the previous attempts, we took the correlations of gas on a variety of scales into account, which allowed us to correct for some of the well-known pathologies, such as finger-of-god effects. The two gas flow models that we adopted incorporate a Galactic bar that induces radial motions in the inner few kiloparsecs and thus offers spectral resolution towards the Galactic centre. We compared our gas maps with those of earlier studies and characterise their statistical properties, for instance the radial profile of the average surface mass density. We have made our three-dimensional gas maps and their uncertainties available to the community here and at https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5501196.
The interstellar oxygen isotopic ratio of ^18^O/^17^O can reflect the relative amount of the secular enrichment by ejecta from high-mass versus intermediate-mass stars. Previous observations found a Galactic gradient of ^18^O/^17^O, i.e., low ratios in the Galactic center and large values in the Galactic disk, which supports the inside-out formation scenario of our Galaxy. However, there are not many observed objects and, in particular, there are not many at large galactocentric distances. For this reason, we started a systematic study on Galactic interstellar ^18^O/^17^O, through observations of C^18^O and C^17^O multi-transition lines toward a large sample of 286 sources (at least one order of magnitude larger than previous ones), from the Galactic center region to the far outer Galaxy (~22kpc). In this article, we present our observations of J=1-0 lines of C^18^O and C^17^O, with the 12m antenna of the Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO 12m) and the Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimetrique (IRAM) 30m telescopes. Among our IRAM 30m sample of 50 targets, we detected successfully both C^18^O and C^17^O 1-0 lines for 34 sources. Similarly, our sample of 260 targets for ARO 12m observations resulted in the detection of both lines for 166 sources. The C^18^O optical depth effect on our ratio results, evaluated by fitting results of C^17^O spectra with hyperfine components (assuming {tau}_C18O_=4{tau}_C17O_) and our radiative transfer and excitation model nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) model calculation for the strongest source, was found to be insignificant. Beam dilution does not seem to be a problem either, which was supported by the fact that there is no systematic variation between the isotopic ratio and the heliocentric distance, and ratios are consistently measured from two telescopes for most of those detected sources. With this study we obtained ^18^O/^17^O isotopic ratios for a large sample of molecular clouds with different galactocentric distances. Our results, though there are still very few detections made for sources in the outer Galaxy, confirm the apparent ^18^O/^17^O gradient of ^18^O/^17^O=(0.10+/-0.03)R_GC_+(2.95+/-0.30), with a Pearson's rank correlation coefficient of R=0.69. This is supported by the newest Galactic chemical evolution model including the impact of massive stellar rotators and novae.
A study of the gas content in 1038 interacting galaxies, essentially selected from Arp (<VII/74>), Arp and Madore (<VII/170>), Vorontsov-Velyaminov (<VII/236>) catalogues and some of the published literature, is presented here. The data on the interstellar medium have been extracted from a number of sources in the literature and compared with a sample of 1916 normal galaxies. The mean values for each of the different ISM tracers (FIR, 21cm, CO lines, X-ray) have been estimated by means of survival analysis techniques, in order to take into account the presence of upper limits.
To investigate how a large-scale infrared bubble centered at l=53.9{deg} and b=0.2{deg} forms, and to study if star formation is taking place at the periphery of the bubble, we performed a multiwavelength study. Using the data from the Galactic Ring Survey (GRS) and Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE), we performed a study of a large-scale infrared bubble with a size of about 16pc at a distance of 2.0kpc. We present the ^12^CO J=1-0, ^13^CO J=1-0, and C^18^O J=1-0 observations of HII region G53.54-0.01 (Sh2-82) obtained at the Purple Mountain Observation (PMO) 13.7m radio telescope to investigate the detailed distribution of associated molecular material. In addition, we also used radiorecombination line and VLA data. To select young stellar objects (YSOs) consistent with this region, we used the GLIMPSE I catalog.
Ring-like structures in the interstellar medium (ISM) are commonly associated with high-mass stars. Kinematic studies of large structures in giant molecular clouds (GMCs) toward these ring-like structures may help us to understand how massive stars form. The origin and properties of the ring-like structure G345.45+1.50 is investigated through observations of the ^13^CO(3-2) line. The aim of the observations is to determine the kinematics in the region and to compare physical characteristics estimated from gas emission with those previously determined using dust continuum emission. This area in the sky is well suited for studies like this because the ring is located 1.5{deg} above the Galactic plane at 1.8kpc from the Sun, thus molecular structures are rarely superposed on our line of sight, which minimizes confusion effects that might hinder identifying of individual molecular condensations. The ^13^CO(3-2) line was mapped toward the whole ring using the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope. The observations cover 17'x20' in the sky with a spatial resolution of 0.2pc and an rms of ~1K at a spectral resolution of 0.1km/s. The ring is found to be expanding with a velocity of 1.0km/s, containing a total mass of 6.9x10^3^M_{sun}_, which agrees well with that determined using 1.2mm dust continuum emission. An expansion timescale of ~3x10^6^yr and a total energy of ~7x10^46^erg are estimated. The origin of the ring might have been a supernova explosion, since a 35.5cm source, J165920-400424, is located at the center of the ring without an infrared counterpart. The ring is fragmented, and 104 clumps were identified with diameters of between 0.3 and 1.6pc, masses of between 2.3 and 7.5x10^2^M_{sun}_, and densities of between ~10^2^ and ~10^4^cm^-3^. At least 18% of the clumps are forming stars, as is shown in infrared images. Assuming that the clumps can be modeled as Bonnor-Ebert spheres, 13 clumps are collapsing, and the rest of them are in hydrostatic equilibrium with an external pressure with a median value of 4x10^4^K/cm^3^. In the region, the molecular outflow IRAS 16562-3959 is identified, with a velocity range of 38.4km/s, total mass of 13M_{sun}_, and kinematic energy of 7x10^45^erg. Finally, five filamentary structures were found at the edge of the ring with an average size of 3pc, a width of 0.6pc, a mass of 2x10^2^M_{sun}_, and a column density of 6x10^21^cm^-2^.
G305 star-forming complex was observed in the 3-2 lines of 12 & 13CO to investigate the effect of feedback from the central OB stars on the complex. The region was decomposed into clumps using dendrogram analysis. A catalog of clump properties was created. The surface mass densities of the clumps were plotted as a function of the incident 8um flux. A mask of the region with 8um flux >100MJy/sr was created and clumps were categorized based on the extent of overlap with the mask into "mostly inside", "partly inside" & "outside". The surface mass density distribution of each of these populations were plotted. This was followed by comparing G305 clumps with the Galactic average taken from the ATLASGAL and CHIMPS clumps. Finally, the cumulative distribution functions (CDF) of the clump masses in G305 & their L/M ratios were compared to that of the Galactic sample. The surface mass densities of clumps showed a positive correlation with incident 8um flux. The data did not have sufficient velocity resolution to discern the effects of feedback on the linewidths of the clumps. The sub-sample of clumps named "mostly inside" had the highest surface mass densities followed by "partly -inside" and "outside" sub-samples. These differences between the three sub-samples were shown to be statistically significant using the KS test. The "mostly inside" sample also showed the highest level of fragmentation compared to the other two. These prove that clumps inside the G305 region are triggered. The G305 clump population is also statistically different from the Galactic average population rejecting redistribution as a likely consequence of feedback. The CDFs of clump masses and their L/M ratios are both flatter than the Galactic average, indicating that feedback in G305 has triggered star formation. The collect & collapse method is the dominant mechanism at play in G305.
We present the first interferometric ^12^CO (J=1->0) map of the entire H{alpha} disk of M33. The 13" diameter synthesized beam corresponds to a linear resolution of 50pc, sufficient to distinguish individual giant molecular clouds (GMCs). From these data we generated a catalog of 148 GMCs with an expectation that no more than 15 of the sources are spurious. The catalog is complete down to GMC masses of 1.5x10^5^M_{sun}_ and contains a total mass of 2.3x10^7^M_{sun}_.
We present IRAM 30m telescope observations of the CO(1-0) and (2-1) lines in a sample of 11 group-dominant elliptical galaxies selected from the CLoGS nearby groups sample. Our observations confirm the presence of molecular gas in 4 of the 11 galaxies at >4{sigma} significance, and combining these with data from the literature we find a detection rate of 43+/-14%, significantly higher than for the wider population of elliptical galaxies, and comparable to the detection rate for nearby radio galaxies. Those group-dominant galaxies which are detected typically contain ~2x10^8^M_{sun}_ of molecular gas, and although most have low star formation rates (<1M_{sun}_/yr) they have short depletion times, indicating that the gas must be replenished on timescales 10^8^yr. Almost all of the galaxies contain active nuclei, and we note that while CO detections are more common in the most radio-loud galaxies, the mass of molecular gas required to power the active nuclei through accretion is small compared to the masses observed. We consider the possible origin mechanisms for the gas, through cooling of stellar ejecta within the galaxies, group-scale cooling flows, and gas-rich mergers, and find probable examples of each type within our sample, confirming that a variety of processes act to drive the build up of molecular gas in group-dominant ellipticals.
It is not yet known if the properties of molecular gas in distant protocluster galaxies are significantly acted by their environment as galaxies are in local clusters. Through a deep, 64 hours of effective on-source integration with the Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), we discovered a massive, M_mol_=2.0+/-0.2x0^11^M_{sun}_, extended, ~40kpc, CO(1-0)-emitting disk in the protocluster surrounding the radio galaxy, MRC1138-262. The galaxy, at z_CO_=2.1478, is a clumpy, massive disk galaxy, M*~5x10^11^M_{sun}_, which lies 250kpc in projection from MRC1138-262 and is a known H{alpha} emitter, named HAE229. This source has a molecular gas fraction of ~30%. The CO emission has a kinematic gradient along its major axis, centered on the highest surface brightness rest-frame optical emission, consistent with HAE229 being a rotating disk. Surprisingly, a significant fraction of the CO emission lies outside of the UV/optical emission. In spite of this, HAE229 follows the same relation between star-formation rate and molecular gas mass as normal field galaxies. HAE229 is the first CO(1-0) detection of an ordinary, star-forming galaxy in a protocluster.We compare a sample of cluster members at z>0.4 that are detected in low-order CO transitions, with a similar sample of sources drawn from the field.We confirm findings that the CO-luminosity and full-width at half maximum (FWHM) are correlated in starbursts and show that this relation is valid for normal high-z galaxies as well as for those in overdensities. We do not find a clear dichotomy in the integrated Schmidt-Kennicutt relation for protocluster and field galaxies. Our results suggest that environment does not have an impact on the "star-formation electronic efficiency" or the molecular gas content of high-redshift galaxies. Not finding any environmental dependence in these characteristics, especially for such an extended CO disk, suggests that environmentally-specific processes such as ram pressure stripping do not operate electronic efficiently in (proto)clusters.
We seek to understand how the 4.8GHz formaldehyde absorption line is distributed in the MON R2, S156, DR17/L906, and M17/M18 regions. More specifically, we look for the relationship among the H_2_CO, ^12^CO, and ^13^CO spectral lines. The four regions of MON R2 (60'x90'), S156 (50'x70'), DR17/L906 (40'x60'), and M17/M18 (70'x80') were observed for H_2_CO (beam 10'), H110{alpha} recombination (beam 10'), 6 cm continuum (beam 10'), ^12^CO (beam 1'), and ^13^CO (beam 1'). We compared the H_2_CO, ^12^CO, ^13^CO, and continuum distributions, and also the spectra line parameters of H_2_CO, ^12^CO, and ^13^CO. Column densities of H_2_CO, ^13^CO, and H_2_ were also estimated. We found out that the H_2_CO distribution is similar to the ^12^CO and the ^13^CO distributions on a large scale. The correlation between the ^13^CO and the H_2_CO distributions is better than between the ^12^CO and H_2_CO distributions. The H_2_CO and the ^13^CO tracers systematically provide consistent views of the dense regions. Their maps have similar shapes, sizes, peak positions, and molecular spectra and present similar central velocities and line widths. Such good agreement indicates that the H_2_CO and the ^13^CO arise from similar regions.
