Related papers: Hunt for cold H2 molecules
The bulk of the molecular gas in spiral galaxies is under the form of cold H2, that does not radiate and is only suspected through tracer molecules, such as CO. All tracers are biased, and in particular H2 could be highly underestimated in…
Molecular gas has been searched for and found in unexpectedly large quantities in some collisional debris of interacting galaxies: HI-rich tidal tails, bridges and collisional rings. It was so far observed through millimeter observations of…
We review here the main direct or indirect ways to detect the possible presence of large amounts of cold molecular hydrogen in the outer parts of disk galaxies, an hypothesis that we have recently developed. Direct ways range from H2…
Robust knowledge of molecular gas mass is critical for understanding star formation in galaxies. The H$_{2}$ molecule does not emit efficiently in the cold interstellar medium, hence the molecular gas content of galaxies is typically…
There is strong evidence for a large fraction of dark matter in the Universe. Some of the evidence and candidates for dark matter are reviewed. Dark matter in spiral galaxies may be in the form of cold dense clouds of molecular hydrogen.…
We know little about the outermost portions of galaxies because there is little light coming from them. We do know that in many cases atomic hydrogen (HI) extends well beyond the optical radius \cite{Casertano91}. In the centers of…
Knowledge of the molecular component of the ISM is fundamental to understand star formation. The H2 component appears to dominate the gas mass in the inner parts of galaxies, while the HI component dominates in the outer parts. Observation…
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 are conducting COLD GASS, a legacy survey for molecular gas in nearby galaxies. Using the IRAM 30m telescope, we measure the CO(1-0) line in a sample of ~350 nearby (D=100-200 Mpc), massive galaxies (log(M*/Msun)>10.0). The sample is…
The results of a CO line survey in central cluster galaxies with cooling flows are presented. Cold molecular gas is detected with the IRAM 30m telescope, through CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) emission lines in 6-10 among 32 galaxies. The…
I review recent observations of molecular gas in the halo of the Milky Way and in the Magellanic Clouds. Far-ultraviolet absorption line studies of molecular hydrogen (H_2) with ORFEUS and FUSE have unveiled the presence of a diffuse…
Lenticular galaxies remain remarkably mysterious as a class. Observations to date have not led to any broad consensus about their origins, properties and evolution, though they are often thought to have formed in one big burst of star…
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…
At low temperatures, the main coolant in primordial gas is molecular hydrogen, H2. Recent work has shown that primordial gas that is not collapsing gravitationally but is cooling from an initially ionized state forms hydrogen deuteride, HD,…
It has been suggested that the dark halos of galaxies are constituted by cloudlets of cold (< 10 K) H_2 and dense (> 10^7$ cm^{-3}) molecular gas. Such gas is extremely difficult to detect, because the classical tracers of molecular gas, CO…
In the last few years new evidence has been presented for the presence of ongoing massive star formation in the outer HI disks of galaxies. These discoveries strongly suggest that precursor molecular gas must also be present in some…
The thermochemistry of H2 and HD in non-collapsed, non-reionized primordial gas up to the end of the dark age is investigated with recent radiation-matter and chemical reaction rates taking into account the efficient coolant HD, and the…
After the recombination of Hydrogen, primordial molecules such as H_2, $HD$ can be formed.The formation of structures in the post-recombination gaseous medium is commonly explained by primordial density fluctuations. In a self-gravitating…
New and archival interferometric 12CO(1->0) datasets from six nearby galaxies are combined with H_2 2.122um and H-alpha maps to explore in detail the interstellar medium in different star-forming galaxies. We investigate the relation…
We have recently proposed a new candidate for baryonic dark matter: very cold molecular gas, in near-isothermal equilibrium with the cosmic background radiation at 2.73 K. The cold gas, of quasi-primordial abundances, is condensed in a…