English
Related papers

Related papers: Extragalactic H2 and its variable relation to CO

200 papers

Carbon monoxide (CO) emission is a widely used tracer of molecular hydrogen (H$_2$) in the interstellar medium (ISM), owing to its abundance, low excitation energy, and ease of detection in cold molecular environments, in contrast to…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-11-24 Mark Gorski , Lena Murchikova

We estimate the conversion factor relating CO emission to H2 mass, alpha_CO, in five Local Group galaxies that span approximately an order of magnitude in metallicity - M31, M 33, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), NGC 6822, and the Small…

We investigate the metallicity dependence of HI surface densities in star-forming regions along many lines of sight within 70 nearby galaxies, probing kpc to 50 pc scales. We employ HI, SFR, stellar mass, and metallicity (gradient)…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-08-08 Andreas Schruba , Shmuel Bialy , Amiel Sternberg

We present detailed constraints on the metallicity dependence of the high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) X-ray luminosity function (XLF). We analyze ~5 Ms of Chandra data for 55 actively star-forming galaxies at D < 30 Mpc with gas-phase…

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,…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-27 Desika Narayanan , Mark Krumholz , Eve C. Ostriker , Lars Hernquist

We present Herschel PACS observations of the [CII] 158 micron emission line in a sample of 24 intermediate mass (9<logM$_\ast$/M$_\odot$<10) and low metallicity (0.4< Z/Z$_\odot$<1.0) galaxies from the xCOLD GASS survey. Combining them with…

We present observations of CO(3-2) in 13 main-sequence $z=2.0-2.5$ star-forming galaxies at $\log(M_*/M_{\odot})=10.2-10.6$ that span a wide range in metallicity (O/H) based on rest-optical spectroscopy. We find that CO(3-2)/SFR decreases…

We present 12CO 1-0 observations of eleven low luminosity M_B > -18), HI--rich dwarf galaxies. Only the three most metal-rich galaxies, with 12+log(O/H) ~ 8.2, are detected. Very deep CO spectra of six extremely metal-poor systems…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-30 Christopher L. Taylor , Henry A. Kobulnicky , Evan D. Skillman

Low-metallicity dwarf galaxies often show no or little CO emission, despite the intense star formation observed in local samples. Both simulations and resolved observations indicate that molecular gas in low-metallicity galaxies may reside…

Recent results have suggested that the well known mass-metallicity relation has a strong dependence on the star formation rate, to the extent that a three dimensional `fundamental metallicity relation' exists which links the three…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-15 M. S. Bothwell , R. Maiolino , R. Kennicutt. , G. Cresci , F. Mannucci , A. Marconi , C. Cicone

Tracing molecular hydrogen content with carbon monoxide in low-metallicity galaxies has been exceedingly difficult. Here we present a new effort, with IRAM 30-m observations of 12CO(1-0) of a sample of 8 dwarf galaxies having oxygen…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-11-04 L. K. Hunt , S. Garcia-Burillo , V. Casasola , P. Caselli , F. Combes , C. Henkel , A. Lundgren , R. Maiolino , K. M. Menten , L. Testi , A. Weiss

Using the atomic carbon [CI](1$-$0) and [CI](2$-$1) emission maps observed with the $Herschel\ Space\ Observatory$, and CO(1$-$0), HI, infrared and submm maps from literatures, we estimate the [CI]-to-H$_2$ and CO-to-H$_2$ conversion…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-04-28 Qian Jiao , Yu Gao , Yinghe Zhao

We derive the CO-to-H2 conversion factor, X_CO = N(H2)/I_CO, across the Perseus molecular cloud on sub-parsec scales by combining the dust-based N(H2) data with the I_CO data from the COMPLETE Survey. We estimate an average X_CO ~ 3 x 10^19…

We performed correlation analyses between the $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO $J=$1-0 line intensities in order to derive the variability of the CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor ($X_{\rm CO, iso}$) in the central molecular zone (CMZ) of our Galaxy.…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-05-13 Mikito Kohno , Yoshiaki Sofue

There is a robust polyatomic chemistry in diffuse, partially-molecular interstellar gas that is readily accessible in absorption at radio/mm/sub-mm wavelengths. Accurate column densities are derived owing to the weak internal excitation, so…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-02-15 Harvey Liszt , Maryvonne Gerin

We wish to relate the degree scale structure of galactic diffuse clouds to sub-arcsecond atomic and molecular absorption spectra obtained against extragalactic continuum background sources. To do this, we used the ARO 12m telescope to map…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-04 H. S. Liszt , J. Pety

This work studies the relation between gas-phase oxygen abundance and stellar-to-gas fraction in nearby galaxies. We first derive the theoretical prediction, and argue that this relation is fundamental, in the sense that it must be verified…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-22 Y. Ascasibar , M. Gavilán , N. Pinto , J. Casado , F. Rosales , A. I. Díaz

How does molecular cloud chemistry change with metallicity? In this work, we study the relation between molecular hydrogen ($H_2$) and carbon monoxide (CO) at $1/2$ and $1/5$ solar metallicity using ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-08-18 Kirill Tchernyshyov , Jessica K. Werk , Julia Roman-Duval

The O/H metallicity distribution of different samples of planetary nebulae in the bulge of the Milky Way and M31 are compared. O/H abundances are converted into [Fe/H] metallicity by the use of theoretical [O/Fe] x [Fe/H] relationships both…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 W. J. Maciel

The determination of the heavy element abundances from giant extragalactic H II regions is based on collisionally excited lines. We argue that in the presence of temperature variations the abundances determined are lower limits to the real…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Manuel Peimbert , Antonio Peimbert