相关论文: Hunting for the signatures of molecular cloud form…
Our understanding of how molecular clouds form in the interstellar medium (ISM) would be greatly helped if we had a reliable observational tracer of the gas flows responsible for forming the clouds. Fine structure emission from singly…
In this review, I discuss some highlights of recent research on molecular gas in galaxies; large-scale CO maps of nearby galaxies are being made, which extend our knowledge on global properties, radial gradients, and spiral structure of the…
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…
The [CII] fine--structure line at 158um is an excellent tracer of the warm diffuse gas in the ISM and the interfaces between molecular clouds and their surrounding atomic and ionized envelopes. Here we present the initial results from…
Molecular clouds are a fundamental ingredient of galaxies: they are the channels that transform the diffuse gas into stars. The detailed process of how they do it is not completely understood. We review the current knowledge of molecular…
ABRIDGED: Context: HI and CO large scale surveys of the Milky Way trace the diffuse atomic clouds and the dense shielded regions of molecular hydrogen clouds. However, until recently, we have not had spectrally resolved C+ surveys to…
The main achievements, current developments and prospects of molecular studies in external galaxies are reviewed. They are put in the context of the results of several decades of studies of molecules in local interstellar medium, their…
We devise a physical model of formation and distribution of molecular gas clouds in galaxies. We use the model to predict the intensities of rotational transition lines of carbon monoxide (CO) and the molecular hydrogen (H$_{\rm 2}$)…
We study the properties of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) from a smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation of a portion of a spiral galaxy, modelled at high resolution, with robust representations of the physics of the interstellar medium.…
Molecular clouds (MCs) are highly structured and ``turbulent''. Colliding gas streams of atomic hydrogen have been suggested as a possible source of MCs, imprinting the filamentary structure as a consequence of dynamical and thermal…
We present results from high-resolution three-dimensional simulations of turbulent interstellar gas that self-consistently follow its coupled thermal, chemical and dynamical evolution, with a particular focus on the formation and…
Carbon monoxide (CO) is the primary tracer for interstellar clouds where stars form, yet CO has never been detected in galaxies with an Oxygen abundance relative to Hydrogen less than 20% of solar, even though such low metallicity galaxies…
The $\rm H_2$ mass of molecular clouds has traditionally been traced by the CO(J=1-0) rotational transition line. This said, CO is relatively easily photodissociated, and can also be destroyed by cosmic rays, thus rendering some fraction of…
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…
We examine the formation of molecular gas behind shocks in atomic gas using a chemical/dynamical model, particular emphasis is given to constraints the chemistry places on the dynamical evolution. The most important result of this study is…
The winds and radiation from massive stars clear out large cavities in the interstellar medium. These bubbles, as they have been called, impact their surrounding molecular clouds and may influence the formation of stars therein. Here we…
The C$^{+}$ ion is an important coolant of interstellar gas, and so the [CII] fine structure line is frequently observed in the interstellar medium. However, the physical and chemical properties of the [CII]-emitting gas are still unclear.…
Collisions between interstellar gas clouds are potentially an important mechanism for triggering star formation. This is because they are able to rapidly generate large masses of dense gas. Observationally, cloud collisions are often…
Theoretical and observational investigations have indicated that the abundance of carbon monoxide (CO) is very sensitive to intrinsic properties of the gaseous medium, such as density, metallicity, and the background UV field. In order to…
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…