Related papers: A Census of the High-Density Molecular Gas in M82
Molecular gas traces the fuel for star formation and the processes that regulate it. Observing its physical state (e.g. excitation) reveals when and why galaxies quench. We observed the CO(5-4) emission of 8 post-starburst (SB) galaxies at…
We report observations of the CO J=7->6 transition toward the starburst nucleus of NGC 253. This is the highest-excitation CO measurement in this source to date, and allows an estimate of the molecular gas excitation conditions. Comparison…
We have determined detailed radio spectra for 26 compact sources in the starburst nucleus of M82, between 74 and 1.3 cm. Seventeen show low-frequency turnovers. One other has a thermal emission spectrum, and we identify it as an HII region.…
We present submillimeter spectra of the (proto-)super star cluster (SSC) candidates in the starbursting center of the nearby galaxy NGC 253 identified by Leroy et al. (2018). The 2.5pc resolution of our ALMA cycle 3 observations approach…
Following the first pioneering efforts in the 1990s that have focused on the detection of the molecular interstellar medium in high redshift galaxies, recent years have brought great advances in our understanding of the actual physical…
The molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Galaxy has been studied using infrared absorption spectra of H$_3^+$ lines at 3.5-4.0 $\mu$m and CO lines near 2.34 $\mu$m. In addition to the previously reported spectra of these…
Far-infrared molecular emission is an important tool used to understand the excitation mechanisms of the gas in the inter-stellar medium of star-forming galaxies. In the present work, we model the emission from rotational transitions with…
We use UV measurements of interstellar CO towards nearby stars to calculate the density in the diffuse molecular clouds containing the molecules responsible for the observed absorption. Chemical models and recent calculations of the…
We present a multilevel study of the emission of methanol, detected for the first time in this galaxy, and discuss the origin of its emission. The high observed methanol abundance of a few 10^-9 can only be explained if injection of…
We report on observations of CO(1-0) emission from the chemically young starburst galaxy Mrk 109. These observations were part of a study to constrain the O2/CO ratio in metal-deficient galaxies, which were motivated by theoretical work…
We present a detailed study of molecular gas in the central 10pc of the Galaxy through spectral line observations of four rotation inversion transitions of NH3 made with the VLA. Updated line widths and NH3(1,1) opacities are presented, and…
Using the IRAM 30-m telescope and the 15-m JCMT, we explore the value of para-formaldehyde (p-H_2CO) as a tracer of density and temperature of the molecular gas in external galaxies. The target of our observations are the lobes of the…
[Abridged] Do some environments favor efficient conversion of molecular gas into stars? To answer this, we need to be able to estimate the H2 mass. Traditionally, this is done using CO and a few assumptions but the Herschel observations in…
We investigate the molecular gas content and the excitation and fragmentation properties in the central region of the spiral galaxy Messier 81 in both the ^{12}CO(1-0) and ^{12}CO(2-1) transitions. We have recently observed the two…
We present high-resolution CO(1-0) observations of the lensed submillimeter galaxy (SMG) SMM J14011+0252 at z=2.6. Comparison to the previously-detected CO(3-2) line gives an intensity ratio of r_3,1=0.97+/-0.16 in temperature units, larger…
The starburst galaxy M82 has been mapped at 1.2 mm using the IRAM 30-m telescope and the MPIfR 19-channel bolometer. The influence of the sidelobe pattern and the 12CO(2-1) line has been carefully analyzed. Based on this analysis, we…
$^{12}$C$/^{13}$C line intensity ratios have been derived from several carbon-bearing molecules to confine the range of carbon and oxygen isotope abundance ratios toward the nuclear regions of two infrared bright galaxies. The most…
The CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor ($\alpha_\rm{CO}$) is critical to studying molecular gas and star formation in galaxies. The value of $\alpha_\rm{CO}$ has been found to vary within and between galaxies, but the specific environmental…
This paper presents ground-based 12CO and 13CO measurements of 126 nearby galaxy centers in various J transitions. More than 60 galaxies were measured in at least four lines. The average relative intensities of the first four 12CO…
We have observed 150 regions of massive star formation, selected originally by the presence of a water maser, in the J = 5-4, 3-2, and 2-1 transitions of CS, and 49 regions in the same transitions of C$^{34}$S. Over 90% of the 150 regions…