THE CO(J=2-1)/CO(J=1-0) Luminosity Ratio in the Orion Giant Molecular Clouds

Abstract

AbstractThe first results of large-area mapping observations of nearby giant molecular clouds in the CO(J=2-1) emission are presented. The CO(J=2-1)/CO(J=1-0) luminosity ratio is 0.75 and 0.62 for the Orion A and B clouds, respectively. These values are consistent with those observed typically in disks of galaxies (−0.6), and are significantly lower than large values (≳1) often observed in active star-forming regions in galaxies. Active star-forming regions in galaxies cannot be explained by ensemble of Orion-like GMCs; they may contain a different population of molecular clouds with high J-2-1/J=1-0 luminosity ratio.