Related papers: Modelling CO formation in the turbulent interstell…
We use the moving mesh code AREPO coupled to a time-dependent chemical network to investigate the formation and destruction of molecular gas in simulated spiral galaxies. This allows us to determine the characteristics of the gas that is…
Over the last decade, observations of the cool interstellar medium in distant galaxies via molecular and atomic fine structure line emission has gone from a curious look into a few extreme, rare objects, to a mainstream tool to study galaxy…
We investigate the temperature distribution of CO-dark molecular hydrogen (H2) in a series of disk galaxies simulated using the AREPO moving-mesh code. In conditions similar to those in the Milky Way, we find that H2 has a flat temperature…
Relating the observed CO emission from giant molecular clouds (GMCs) to the underlying H2 column density is a long-standing problem in astrophysics. While the Galactic CO-H2 conversion factor (Xco) appears to be reasonably constant,…
A roughly constant temperature over a wide range of densities is maintained in molecular clouds through radiative heating and cooling. An isothermal equation of state is therefore frequently employed in molecular cloud simulations. However,…
To understand the conditions under which dense, molecular gas is able to form within a galaxy, we post-process a series of three-dimensional galactic-disk-scale simulations with ray-tracing based radiative transfer and chemical network…
Dense environments have an impact on the star formation rate of galaxies. As stars form from molecular gas, looking at the cold molecular gas content of a galaxy gives useful insights on its efficiency in forming stars. However, most…
The spatial distribution of the gaseous components of the Milky Way is of great importance for a number of different fields, for example, Galactic structure, star formation, and cosmic rays. However, obtaining distance information to…
Turbulence is the leading candidate for angular momentum transport in protoplanetary disks and therefore influences disk lifetimes and planet formation timescales. However, the turbulent properties of protoplanetary disks are poorly…
Ice chemistry in the dense, cold interstellar medium (ISM) is probably responsible for the formation of interstellar complex organic molecules (COMs). Recent laboratory experiments performed at T=4 K have shown that irradiation of CO:N2 ice…
We report on the effects of cosmic rays (CRs) on the abundance of CO in $\rm H_2$ clouds under conditions typical for star-forming galaxies in the Universe. We discover that this most important molecule for tracing H$_2$ gas is very…
We use time-varying models of the coupled evolution of the HI, H_2 gas phases and stars in galaxy-sized numerical simulations to: a) test for the emergence of the Kennicutt-Schmidt (K-S) and the H_2-pressure relation, b) explore a realistic…
(Abridged) Aims & Methods. A two-dimensional, semi-analytical model is presented that follows, for the first time, the chemical evolution from a collapsing molecular cloud (a pre-stellar core) to a protostar and circumstellar disk. The…
Although still poorly understood, the chemistry that occurs on the surfaces of interstellar dust particles profoundly affects the growth of molecules in the interstellar medium. An important set of surface reactions produces icy mantles of…
Star formation activity in molecular clouds is often found to be correlated with the amount of material above a column density threshold of $\sim 10^{22} \, {\rm cm^{-2}}$. Attempts to connect this column density threshold to a ${\it…
We re-analyze the data of the BU-FCRAO $^{13}{\rm CO}$ Galactic Ring Survey (GRS) to understand the dynamics of the turbulent molecular interstellar medium. We define molecular clouds by their spatial half-power contours of $^{13}{\rm CO}$…
We investigate the physical properties of molecular hydrogen (H2) in isolated and interacting disk galaxies with different masses and Hubble types by using chemodynamical simulations with H2 formation on dust grains and dust growth and…
Data from the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory CO Mapping Survey of the Taurus molecular cloud are combined with extinction data for a sample of 292 background field stars to investigate the uptake of CO from the gas to icy grain…
We use detailed numerical simulations of the coupled chemical, thermal and dynamical evolution of the gas in a turbulent molecular cloud to study the usefulness of the [CI] 609 micron and 370 micron fine structure emission lines as tracers…
Molecular gas, modest in mass yet pivotal within the cosmic inventory, regulates baryon cycling as the immediate fuel for star formation. Across most of cosmic history, its reservoir has remained elusive, with only the tip of the iceberg…