Related papers: Molecular Gas in Galaxies
Stars in galaxies form in giant molecular clouds that coalesce when the atomic hydrogen is converted into molecules. There are currently two dominant models for what property of the galactic disk determines its molecular fraction: either…
Gas in galactic disks is collected by gravitational instabilities into giant atomic-molecular complexes, but only the inner, molecular parts of these structures are able to collapse to form stars. Determining what controls the ratio of…
In order to understand how molecular clouds form in the Galactic interstellar medium, we would like to be able to map the structure and kinematics of the gas flows responsible for forming them. However, doing so is observationally…
In the currently-accepted model for star formation out of the interstellar gas in galaxies, the basic construction material is assumed to be large clouds of atomic hydrogen (HI). These clouds are thought to form higher-density complexes of…
We study the connection of star formation to atomic (HI) and molecular hydrogen (H$_2$) in isolated, low metallicity dwarf galaxies with high-resolution ($m_{\rm gas}$ = 4 M$_\odot$, $N_{\rm ngb}$ = 100) SPH simulations. The model includes…
ISM comprises multiple components, including molecular, neutral, and ionized gas, and dust, which are related to each other mainly through star formation - some are fuel for star formation (molecular gas) while some are the products of it…
Galaxy interactions and mergers play a significant, but still debated and poorly understood role in the star formation history of galaxies. Numerical and theoretical models cannot yet explain the main properties of merger-induced…
On galactic scales, the surface density of star formation appears to be well correlated with the surface density of molecular gas. This has lead many authors to suggest that there exists a causal relationship between the chemical state of…
Emission from carbon monoxide (CO) is ubiquitously used as a tracer of dense star forming molecular clouds. There is, however, growing evidence that a significant fraction of CO emission originates from diffuse molecular gas. Quantifying…
[Abridged...] We investigate the process of galaxy formation as can be observed in the only currently forming galaxies -- the so-called Tidal Dwarf Galaxies, hereafter TDGs -- through observations of the molecular gas detected via its CO…
I review observational studies of the large-scale star formation process in nearby galaxies. A wealth of new multi-wavelength data provide an unprecedented view on the interplay of the interstellar medium and (young) stellar populations on…
We investigate the stellar populations and molecular gas properties of a star-forming region within the dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxy WLM. Low-metallicity dIrrs like WLM offer a valuable window into star formation in environments that are…
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…
Observations of carbon monoxide (CO) emission in high redshift (z>2) galaxies indicate the presence of large amounts of molecular gas. Many of these galaxies contain an active galactic nucleus (AGN) powered by accretion of gas onto a…
Understanding the molecular gas content in the interstellar medium (ISM) is crucial for studying star formation and galaxy evolution. The CO-to-H$_2$ ($X_{\rm CO}$) and the [CI]-to-H$_2$ ($X_{\rm CI}$) conversion factors are widely used to…
We study the interstellar medium (ISM) properties as a function of the molecular gas size for 77 infrared-selected galaxies at $z \sim 1.3$. Molecular gas sizes are measured on ALMA images that combine CO(2-1), CO(5-4) and underlying…
I review some recent results about the molecular content of galaxies, obtained essentially from the CO lines, but also dense tracers, or the dust continuum emission. New results have been obtained on molecular cloud physics, and their…
The cold interstellar medium (ISM) plays a central role in the galaxy evolution process. It is the reservoir that fuels galaxy growth via star formation, the repository of material formed by these stars, and a sensitive tracer of internal…
We have obtained CO(1-0) observations for a sample of 37 interacting galaxy systems, chosen from a parent sample of optically-selected interacting galaxies. The sample observed here spans a large range of interaction strengths and star…
Using IRAM 30m, SEST 15m, and Nancay radiotelescopes, we have gathered the 1mm continuum emission, spectra of the J=1--0 CO line and of the HI line at 21cm for two samples of IRAS galaxies. Using these data, we have estimated the HI masses,…