Galactic Giant Molecular Clouds Research Articles

H i in Molecular Clouds: Irradiation by FUV Plus Cosmic Rays

We extend the analytic theory presented by Sternberg et al. and Bialy & Sternberg for the production of atomic hydrogen (H i) via far-ultraviolet (FUV) photodissociation at the boundaries of dense interstellar molecular (H2) clouds to also include the effects of penetrating (low-energy) cosmic rays (CRs) for the growth of the total H i column densities. We compute the steady-state abundances of the H i and H2 in one-dimensional gas slabs in which the FUV photodissociation rates are reduced by depth-dependent H2 self-shielding and dust absorption and the CR ionization rates are either constant or reduced by transport effects. The solutions for the H i and H2 density profiles and the integrated H i columns depend primarily on the ratios I UV/Rn and ζ/Rn, where I UV is the intensity of the photodissociating FUV field, ζ is the H2 CR ionization rate, n is the hydrogen gas density, and R is the dust surface H2 formation rate coefficient. We present computations for a wide range of FUV field strengths, CR ionization rates, and dust-to-gas ratios. We develop analytic expressions for the growth of the H i column densities. For Galactic giant molecular clouds (GMCs) with multiphased (warm/cold) H i envelopes, the interior CR zones will dominate the production of the H i only if s−1, where M GMC is the GMC mass, and including attenuation of the CR fluxes. For most Galactic GMCs and conditions, FUV photodissociation dominates over CR ionization for the production of the H i column densities. Furthermore, the CRs do not affect the H i-to-H2 transition points.

The Star Formation–Gas Density Relation in Four Galactic GMCs: Effects of Stellar Feedback

We present maps of four Galactic giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the J = 2-1 emission of both CO and 13CO. We use an LTE analysis to derive maps of the CO excitation temperature and column density and the distribution of total molecular gas column density, Σgas. The depletion of CO by freeze-out onto cold dust grains is accounted for by an approximation to the results of Lewis et al., which were derived from far-IR observations with Herschel. The surface density of young stellar objects (YSOs) is obtained from published catalogs. The mean YSO surface density exhibits a power-law dependence on Σgas, with exponents in the range 0.9–1.9. Gas column density probability distribution functions show power-law tails extending to high column densities. The distributions of sonic Mach number, M S , are sharply peaked at MS ∼ 5–8 for 3 GMCs; a fourth has a broad distribution up to M S = 30, possibly a result of feedback effects from multiple OB stars. An analysis following the methodology of Pokhrel et al. finds that our sample of GMCs shows power-law relations that are somewhat shallower than those found by Pokhrel et al. for the star formation rate versus 〈Σgas〉 and versus 〈Σgas〉/t ff in a different sample of clouds. We discuss possible differences in the two samples of star-forming clouds and the effects of stellar feedback on the relation between gas density and star formation rate.

Interstellar Cloud Conditions Based on 63 μm [O i] Emission and Absorption in W3

Abstract We investigate the origin of self-absorption in [O i] 63 μm line emission, which is very clearly seen in approximately half of the 12 Galactic giant molecular cloud (GMC)/H ii regions observed. For this study, we observed velocity-resolved spectra of photon-dominated region (PDR) and H ii region tracers, the [O i] 63 μm, [N ii] 205 μm, and CO J = 5–4 and 8–7 lines, with the upGREAT instrument in the 4GREAT configuration on the NASA/DLR Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). To probe the origin of the [O i] absorption and line shape and what they tell us about the physical conditions, we focus on the W3 region, for which we obtained data for eight positions along a line near the H ii region W3 A. We derive the foreground column density of low-excitation atomic oxygen to be in the range 2–7 × 1018 cm − 2 . At the position of strongest [O i] emission and greatest absorbing column density, 24% of the oxygen in the PDR is in the form of low-excitation atomic oxygen. We employ the Meudon PDR code to study the chemical and thermal structure of the PDR and to understand the large column density of neutral oxygen throughout the PDR. The reduction in the integrated intensity of the [O i] 63 μm emission is a factor of ≃2–4 in directions with strong [O i] emission. The results from our sample, if general, would significantly impact the use of the [O i] 63 μm line as a tracer of massive star formation and could play a significant role in explaining the “63 μm [O i] deficit” seen in very luminous extragalactic sources.

ALMA Observations of Giant Molecular Clouds in M33. I. Resolving Star Formation Activities in the Giant Molecular Filaments Possibly Formed by a Spiral Shock

Abstract We report molecular line and continuum observations toward one of the most massive giant molecular clouds (GMCs), GMC-16, in M33 using ALMA with an angular resolution of 0.″44 × 0.″27 (∼2 pc × 1 pc). We have found that the GMC is composed of several filamentary structures in 12CO and 13CO(J = 2–1). The typical length, width, and total mass are ∼50–70 pc, ∼5–6 pc, and ∼105 M ⊙, respectively, which are consistent with those of giant molecular filaments (GMFs) as seen in the Galactic GMCs. The elongations of the GMFs are roughly perpendicular to the direction of the galaxy’s rotation, and several H ii regions are located at the downstream side relative to the filaments with an offset of ∼10–20 pc. These observational results indicate that the GMFs are considered to be produced by a galactic spiral shock. The 1.3 mm continuum and C18O(J = 2–1) observations detected a dense clump with the size of ∼2 pc at the intersection of several filamentary clouds, which is referred to as the “hub filament,” possibly formed by a cloud–cloud collision. A strong candidate for protostellar outflow in M33 has also been identified at the center of the clump. We have successfully resolved the parsec-scale local star formation activity in which the galactic scale kinematics may induce the formation of the parental filamentary clouds.

Northern Galactic Molecular Cloud Clumps in Hi-GAL: Clump and Star Formation within Clouds

Abstract We investigate how the properties of Galactic giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and their denser substructures (clumps) correlate with the local star formation rate (SFR). We trace clouds using the 12CO(3−2) transition, as observed by the CO High Resolution Survey. We identify their constituent clumps using thermal dust emission, as observed by the Herschel infrared GALactic plane survey. We estimate SFRs in these clouds using 70 μm emission. In total, we match 3674 clumps to 473 clouds in position–position–velocity space spanning the Galactic longitude range 10° < ℓ < 56°. We find that more massive clouds produce more clumps and more massive clumps. These clumps have average number densities an order of magnitude greater than their host clouds. We find a mean clump mass fraction of . This mass fraction weakly varies with mass and mass surface density of clouds, and shows no clear dependence on the virial parameter and line width of the clouds. The average clump mass fraction is only weakly dependent upon Galactocentric radius. Although the scatter in our measured properties is significant, the SFR for clouds is independent of clump mass fraction. However, there is a positive correlation between the depletion times for clouds and clump mass fraction. We find a star formation efficiency per freefall time of ϵ ff = 0.15% for GMCs but ϵ ff = 0.37% for clumps.

The Duration of Star Formation in Galactic Giant Molecular Clouds. I. The Great Nebula in Carina

Abstract We present a novel infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling methodology that uses likelihood-based weighting of the model fitting results to construct probabilistic Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams (pHRD) for X-ray-identified, intermediate-mass (2–8 M ⊙), pre-main-sequence young stellar populations. This methodology is designed specifically for application to young stellar populations suffering strong, differential extinction (ΔA V > 10 mag), typical of Galactic massive star-forming regions. We pilot this technique in the Carina Nebula Complex (CNC) by modeling the 1–8 μm SEDs of 2269 likely stellar members that exhibit no excess emission from circumstellar dust disks at 4.5 μm or shorter wavelengths. A subset of ∼100 intermediate-mass stars in the lightly obscured Trumpler 14 and 16 clusters have available spectroscopic T eff, measured from the Gaia-ESO survey. We correctly identify the stellar temperature in 85% of cases, and the aggregate pHRD for all sources returns the same peak in the stellar age distribution as obtained using the spectroscopic T eff. The SED model parameter distributions of stellar mass and evolutionary age reveal significant variation in the duration of star formation among four large-scale stellar overdensities within the CNC and a large distributed stellar population. Star formation began ∼10 Myr ago and continues to the present day, with the star formation rate peaking ≲3 Myr ago when the massive Trumpler 14 and 16 clusters formed. We make public the set of 100,000 SED models generated from standard pre-main-sequence evolutionary tracks and our custom software package for generating pHRDs and mass–age distributions from the SED fitting results.

Planck’s dusty GEMS

We present an extensive CO emission-line survey of the Planck’s dusty Gravitationally Enhanced subMillimetre Sources, a small set of 11 strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies at z = 2–4 discovered with Planck and Herschel satellites, using EMIR on the IRAM 30-m telescope. We detected a total of 45 CO rotational lines from Jup = 3 to Jup = 11, and up to eight transitions per source, allowing a detailed analysis of the gas excitation and interstellar medium conditions within these extremely bright (μLFIR = 0.5 − 3.0 × 1014L⊙), vigorous starbursts. The peak of the CO spectral-line energy distributions (SLEDs) fall between Jup = 4 and Jup = 7 for nine out of 11 sources, in the same range as other lensed and unlensed submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) and the inner regions of local starbursts. We applied radiative transfer models using the large velocity gradient approach to infer the spatially-averaged molecular gas densities, nH2 ≃ 102.6 − 104.1 cm−3, and kinetic temperatures, Tk ≃ 30–1000 K. In five sources, we find evidence of two distinct gas phases with different properties and model their CO SLED with two excitation components. The warm (70–320 K) and dense gas reservoirs in these galaxies are highly excited, while the cooler (15–60 K) and more extended low-excitation components cover a range of gas densities. In two sources, the latter is associated with diffuse Milky Way-like gas phases of density nH2 ≃ 102.4 − 102.8 cm−3, which provides evidence that a significant fraction of the total gas masses of dusty starburst galaxies can be embedded in cool, low-density reservoirs. The delensed masses of the warm star-forming molecular gas range from 0.6to12 × 1010 M⊙. Finally, we show that the CO line luminosity ratios are consistent with those predicted by models of photon-dominated regions (PDRs) and disfavor scenarios of gas clouds irradiated by intense X-ray fields from active galactic nuclei. By combining CO, [C I] and [C II] line diagnostics, we obtain average PDR gas densities significantly higher than in normal star-forming galaxies at low-redshift, as well as far-ultraviolet radiation fields 102–104 times more intense than in the Milky Way. These spatially-averaged conditions are consistent with those in high-redshift SMGs and in a range of low-redshift environments, from the central regions of ultra-luminous infrared galaxies and bluer starbursts to Galactic giant molecular clouds.

Investigations of the Class I methanol masers in NGC 4945

We have used the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) to conduct further observations of the 36.2-GHz ($4_{-1}\rightarrow3_0$E) methanol transition towards the nearby active galaxy NGC 4945. These observations have led to a more accurate determination of the offset between the maser emission and the nucleus of NGC 4945 with a typical synthesised beam of $6^{\prime\prime} \times 4^{\prime\prime}$ ($108\times72$ pc). This corresponds to a factor of 4 improvement with respect to the major-axis of the beam. Other transitions of methanol and lines of other molecular species were obtained alongside the 36.2-GHz methanol emission, with strong detections of HC$_3$N (J = $4 \rightarrow 3$) and CS (J = $1 \rightarrow0$) presented here. We do not detect thermal methanol (5$\sigma$ upper limit of 5 mJy in a 6 km s$^{-1}$ channel) from the 48.4-GHz ($1_{0}\rightarrow0_0$A$^+$) ground-state transition, nor emission from the 44.1-GHz ($7_{0} \rightarrow 6_1 $A$^+$) class~I maser transition (5$\sigma$ upper limit of 6 mJy in a 3 km s$^{-1}$ channel). We also present a comparison of the class~I maser emission observed towards NGC 4945 with that from NGC 253 and towards the Galactic giant molecular cloud G 1.6-0.025.

Star formation induced by cloud–cloud collisions and galactic giant molecular cloud evolution

Abstract Recent millimeter/submillimeter observations towards nearby galaxies have started to map the whole disk and to identify giant molecular clouds (GMCs) even in the regions between galactic spiral structures. Observed variations of GMC mass functions in different galactic environments indicates that massive GMCs preferentially reside along galactic spiral structures whereas inter-arm regions have many small GMCs. Based on the phase transition dynamics from magnetized warm neutral medium to molecular clouds, Kobayashi et al. (2017, ApJ, 836, 175) proposes a semi-analytical evolutionary description for GMC mass functions including a cloud–cloud collision (CCC) process. Their results show that CCC is less dominant in shaping the mass function of GMCs than the accretion of dense H i gas driven by the propagation of supersonic shock waves. However, their formulation does not take into account the possible enhancement of star formation by CCC. Millimeter/submillimeter observations within the Milky Way indicate the importance of CCC in the formation of star clusters and massive stars. In this article, we reformulate the time-evolution equation largely modified from Kobayashi et al. (2017, ApJ, 836, 175) so that we additionally compute star formation subsequently taking place in CCC clouds. Our results suggest that, although CCC events between smaller clouds are more frequent than the ones between massive GMCs, CCC-driven star formation is mostly driven by massive GMCs $\gtrsim 10^{5.5}\,M_{\odot }$ (where M⊙ is the solar mass). The resultant cumulative CCC-driven star formation may amount to a few 10 percent of the total star formation in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies.

Molecular-cloud-scale Chemical Composition. I. A Mapping Spectral Line Survey toward W51 in the 3 mm Band

Abstract We have conducted a mapping spectral line survey toward the Galactic giant molecular cloud W51 in the 3 mm band with the Mopra 22 m telescope in order to study an averaged chemical composition of the gas extended over a molecular-cloud scale in our Galaxy. We have observed the area of 25′ × 30′, which corresponds to 39 pc × 47 pc. The frequency ranges of the observation are 85.1–101.1 GHz and 107.0–114.9 GHz. In the spectrum spatially averaged over the observed area, spectral lines of 12 molecular species and 4 additional isotopologues are identified. An intensity pattern of the spatially averaged spectrum is found to be similar to that of the spiral arm in the external galaxy M51, indicating that these two sources have similar chemical compositions. The observed area has been classified into five subregions according to the integrated intensity of 13CO(J = 1 − 0) ( ), and contributions of the fluxes of 11 molecular lines from each subregion to the averaged spectrum have been evaluated. For most of the molecular species, 50% or more of the flux comes from the subregions with from 25 to 100 K km s−1, which does not involve active star-forming regions. Therefore, the molecular-cloud-scale spectrum observed in the 3 mm band hardly represents the chemical composition of star-forming cores, but mainly represents the chemical composition of an extended quiescent molecular gas. The present result constitutes a sound base for interpreting the spectra of external galaxies at a resolution of a molecular-cloud scale (∼10 pc) or larger.

PHYSICAL CONDITIONS IN MOLECULAR CLOUDS IN THE ARM AND INTERARM REGIONS OF M51

We report systematic variations in the CO(2-1)/CO(1-0) line ratio (R) in M51. The ratio shows clear evidence for the evolution of molecular gas from the upstream interarm regions, passage into the spiral arms and back into the downstream interarm regions. In the interarm regions, R is typically low <0.7 (and often 0.4-0.6); this is similar to the ratios observed in Galactic giant molecular clouds (GMCs) with low far-IR luminosities. However, the ratio rises to >0.7 (often 0.8-1.0) in the spiral arms, particularly at their leading (downstream) edge. R is also high, 0.8-1.0, in the central region. An LVG calculation provides insight into the changes in the gas physical conditions between the arm and interarm regions: cold and low density gas (~10K, ~300cm-3) is required for the interarm GMCs, but this gas must become warmer and/or denser in the more active star forming spiral arms. R is higher in areas of high 24micron brightness (an approximate tracer of star formation rate surface density) and high CO(1-0) integrated intensity (a well-calibrated tracer of total molecular gas surface density). The systematic enhancement of the CO(2-1) line relative to CO(1-0) in luminous star forming regions suggests that some caution is needed when using CO(2-1) as a tracer of bulk molecular gas mass.

An investigation of the hydrodynamics of hypersonic jets in astrophysical conditions

Hypersonic, collimated jets are being lately intensively studied in Earth laboratories, trying to reproduce some of the physical properties of a subclass of astrophysical jets that are the Herbig-Haro (HH) jets. These jets are produced in the regions around Young Stellar Objects (YSOs), that are proto-stars located inside galactic Giant Molecular Clouds. In addition to the novel experimental approach, HH or YSO jets have been object of interest by the astrophysical community since a few decades and studied by means of observations at different wavelengths and analytical and numerical modeling. We present laboratory experiments and 2D numerical simulations of hypersonic jets, comparing the results of experiments and simulations that reproduce the evolution of the above mentioned jets. The experimental flows match two main scaling parameter requirements for proto-stellar jets, i.e. the ejection Mach number M and the jet/ambient density ratio η. In particular, η goes from slightly underdense to overdense values. Furthermore, as a development of previous works, we consider here the dependence of the jet structure and morphology on the Mach number, in the range 10 to 15.

APERTURE SYNTHESIS OBSERVATIONS OF CO, HCN, AND 89 GHz CONTINUUM EMISSION TOWARD NGC 604 IN M33: SEQUENTIAL STAR FORMATION INDUCED BY A SUPERGIANT H II REGION

We present the results from new Nobeyama Millimeter Array observations of CO(1-0), HCN(1-0), and 89-GHz continuum emissions toward NGC 604, known as the supergiant H ii region in a nearby galaxy M 33. Our high spatial resolution images of CO emission allowed us to uncover ten individual molecular clouds that have masses of (0.8 -7.4) 10$^5$M$_{\sun }$ and sizes of 5 -- 29 pc, comparable to those of typical Galactic giant molecular clouds (GMCs). Moreover, we detected for the first time HCN emission in the two most massive clouds and 89 GHz continuum emission at the rims of the "H${\alpha}$ shells". Three out of ten CO clouds are well correlated with the H${\alpha}$ shells both in spatial and velocity domains, implying an interaction between molecular gas and the expanding H ii region. Furthermore, we estimated star formation efficiencies (SFEs) for each cloud from the 89-GHz and combination of H${\alpha}$ and 24-${\mu}$m data, and found that the SFEs decrease with increasing projected distance measured from the heart of the central OB star cluster in NGC 604, suggesting the radial changes in evolutionary stages of the molecular clouds in course of stellar cluster formation. Our results provide further support to the picture of sequential star formation in NGC604 initially proposed by Tosaki et al. (2007) with the higher spatially resolved molecular clouds, in which an isotropic expansion of the H ii region pushes gases outward and accumulates them to consecutively form dense molecular clouds, and then induces massive star formations.

MOLECULAR GAS IN EXTREME STAR-FORMING ENVIRONMENTS: THE STARBURSTS Arp 220 AND NGC 6240 AS CASE STUDIES

We report single-dish multitransition measurements of the ^(12)CO, HCN, and HCO^+ molecular line emission as well as HNC J = 1-0 and HNCO in the two ultraluminous IR galaxies Arp 220 and NGC 6240. Using this new molecular line inventory, in conjunction with existing data in the literature, we compiled the most extensive molecular line data sets to date for such galaxies. The many rotational transitions, with their different excitation requirements, allow the study of the molecular gas over a wide range of different densities and temperatures with significant redundancy, and thus allow good constraints on the properties of the dense gas in these two systems. The mass (~ (1-2)×10^(10) M_☉ ) of dense gas (≳10^(5–6) cm^(–3)) found accounts for the bulk of their molecular gas mass, and is consistent with most of their IR luminosities powered by intense starbursts while self-regulated by O, B star cluster radiative pressure onto the star-forming dense molecular gas. The highly excited HCN transitions trace a gas phase ~ (10-100)× denser than that of the subthermally excited HCO^+ lines (for both galaxies). These two phases are consistent with an underlying density-size power law found for Galactic giant molecular clouds (but with a steeper exponent), with HCN lines tracing denser and more compact regions than HCO^+. Whether this is true in IR-luminous, star-forming galaxies in general remains to be seen, and underlines the need for observations of molecular transitions with high critical densities for a sample of bright (U)LIRGs in the local universe—a task for which the HI-FI instrument on board Herschel is ideally suited to do.

HCN Observations of Dense Star-forming Gas in High-Redshift Galaxies

We present here the sensitive HCN(1-0) observations made with the VLA of two submillimeter galaxies and two QSOs at high-redshift. HCN emission is the signature of dense molecular gas found in GMC cores, the actual sites of massive star formation. We have made the first detection of HCN in a submillimeter galaxy, SMM J16359+6612. The HCN emission is seen with a signal to noise ratio of 4$\sigma$ and appears to be resolved as a double-source of $\approxlt 2''$ separation. Our new HCN observations, combined with previous HCN detections and upper limits, show that the FIR/HCN ratios in these high redshift sources lie systematically above the FIR/HCN correlation established for nearby galaxies by about a factor of 2. Even considering the scatter in the data and the presence of upper limits, this is an indication that the FIR/HCN ratios for the early Universe molecular emission line galaxies (EMGs) deviate from the correlation that fits Galactic giant molecular cloud cores, normal spirals, LIRGs, and ULIRGs. This indicates that the star formation rate per solar mass of dense molecular gas is higher in the high-$z$ objects than in local galaxies including normal spirals LIRGs and ULIRGs. The limited HCN detections at high-redshift show that the HCN/CO ratios for the high-$z$ objects are high and are comparable to those of the local ULIRGs rather than those of normal spirals. This indicates that EMGs have a high fraction of dense molecular gas compared to total molecular gas traced by CO emission.

Breakup of Moving Clusters in the Galactic Disk

Numerical simulations are used to analyze the breakup of moving groups in the Galactic disk through the internal velocity dispersion of the group components and the tidal effect of the external regular gravitational Galactic field and giant molecular clouds. The initial locations of the group centroids correspond to well-known moving streams: the Hyades, the Pleiades, the Ursa Major cluster, and the group HR 1614. The mean group breakup times have been found as a function of the adopted limiting group size. The interactions of stream stars with giant molecular clouds reduce significantly the group lifetime.

Properties of a Molecular Cloud in NGC 185

The dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 185- the closest early-type galaxy with detectable molecular gas- offers a unique opportunity for high angular resolution studies of the interstellar medium in early-type galaxies. I present interferometric images (17 pc $\times$ 14 pc resolution) of CO emission from NGC 185. The majority of the molecular gas in NGC 185 is in one resolved cloud, closely associated with dust and an HI structure which may be a photodissociated envelope. The high spatial resolution also reveals a velocity gradient across the cloud, which allows a dynamical mass estimate independent of the H2/CO conversion factor or the virial theorem. The linear sizes, velocity gradients, and dynamical masses of the molecular clouds in NGC 185 and NGC 205, a similar dwarf elliptical, are comparable to those of the largest Galactic giant molecular clouds (GMCs). If the dynamical masses of the clouds are assumed to be good estimates of their true masses, the inferred H2/CO conversion factor in NGC 185 is at least eight times larger than a standard Galactic conversion factor, and the reasons for this difference are not yet understood. In any case, it seems clear that structures similar to Galactic GMCs can form in small elliptical or early type galaxies, even in the absence of spiral density waves.

High Column Densities and Low Extinctions of Gamma-Ray Bursts: Evidence for Hypernovae and Dust Destruction

We analyze a complete sample of γ-ray burst afterglows and find X-ray evidence for high column densities of gas around them. The column densities are in the range 1022-1023 cm-2, which is right around the average column density of Galactic giant molecular clouds. We also estimate the cloud sizes to be 10-30 pc, implying masses 105 M☉. This strongly suggests that γ-ray bursts lie within star-forming regions and therefore argues against neutron star mergers and for collapses of massive stars as their sources. The optical extinctions, however, are 10-100 times smaller than expected from the high column densities. This confirms theoretical findings that the early hard radiation from γ-ray bursts and their afterglows can destroy the dust in their environment, thus carving a path for the afterglow light out of the molecular cloud. Because of the self-created low extinction and location in star-forming regions, we expect γ-ray bursts to provide a relatively unbiased sample of high-redshift star formation. Thus, they may help resolve what is the typical environment of high-redshift star formation.

Properties of the Molecular Clouds in NGC 205

The nearby dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 205 offers a unique opportunity for high-resolution studies of the interstellar medium in an elliptical galaxy. The present paper investigates the distribution of molecular gas, molecular line ratios, and the relationships between atomic gas, molecular gas, and dust in this galaxy. The line ratios 12CO (2–1)/(1–0) and 12CO (1–0)/13CO (1–0) in one of the molecular clouds in NGC 205 are consistent with the ratios found in other elliptical galaxies and in Galactic giant molecular clouds; they suggest that the CO in this cloud is probably subthermally excited. Atomic gas, molecular gas, and dust are very closely associated on scales of ∼100 pc; the atomic gas can be understood as a photodissociated envelope around the molecular clouds. The atomic column densities in this galaxy are quite low (≈1020 cm-2) because the interstellar UV field is relatively low. The total gas-to-dust column density ratios are consistent with Galactic gas-to-dust ratios. In short, the molecular gas in NGC 205 seems to have properties very similar to the familiar molecular clouds in our own Galaxy except for the low atomic column densities.

Star Formation in the Giant HiiRegions of M101

The molecular components of three giant H II regions (NGC 5461, NGC 5462, and NGC 5471) in the galaxy M101 are investigated with new observations from single-dish telescopes (James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and the NRAO 12 m) and from the Owens Valley Radio Observatory millimeter array. Of the three H II regions, only NGC 5461 had previously been detected in CO emission. We calculate preliminary values for the molecular mass of the GMCs in NGC 5461 by assuming a CO-to-H2 factor (X factor) and then comparing these values with the virial masses. We found that the appropriate X factor is 5 times smaller than the X factor in the Milky Way despite the lower metallicity of M101. We conclude that the data in this paper demonstrate for the first time that the value of X may decrease in regions with intense star formation. The molecular mass for the association of clouds in NGC 5461 is approximately 3 × 107 M☉ and is accompanied by 1-2 times as much atomic mass. The observed CO emission in NGC 5461 is an order of magnitude stronger than in NGC 5462, but it was not possible to detect molecular gas toward NGC 5471 with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. An even larger ratio of atomic to molecular gas in NGC 5471 was observed, which might be attributed to efficient conversion of molecular to atomic gas. The masses of the individual clouds in NGC 5461, which are gravitationally bound, cover a range of (2-8) × 105 M☉, comparable with the masses of Galactic giant molecular clouds. Higher star-forming efficiencies, and not massive clouds, appear to be the prerequisite for the formation of the large number of stars whose radiation is required to produce the giant H II regions in M101.