Individual Star-forming Regions Research Articles

The SPHERE view of the Taurus star-forming region

The sample of planet-forming disks observed by high-contrast imaging campaigns over the last decade is mature enough to enable the demographical analysis of individual star-forming regions. We present the full census of Taurus sources with VLT/SPHERE polarimetric images available. The whole sample sums up to 43 targets (of which 31 have not been previously published) corresponding to one-fifth of the Class II population in Taurus and about half of such objects that are observable. A large fraction of the sample is apparently made up of isolated faint disks (equally divided between small and large self-shadowed disks). Ambient signal is visible in about one-third of the sample. This probes the interaction with the environment and with companions or the outflow activity of the system. The central portion of the Taurus region almost exclusively hosts faint disks, while the periphery also hosts bright disks interacting with their surroundings. The few bright disks are found around apparently older stars. The overall picture is that the Taurus region is in an early evolutionary stage of planet formation. Yet, some objects are discussed individually, as in an intermediate or exceptional stage of the disk evolution. This census provides a first benchmark for the comparison of the disk populations in different star forming regions.

Pre-supernova stellar feedback in nearby starburst dwarf galaxies

Stellar feedback in dwarf galaxies remains, to date, poorly explored, yet is crucial to understanding galaxy evolution in the early Universe. In particular, pre-supernova feedback has recently been found to play a significant role in regulating and disrupting star formation in larger spiral galaxies, but it remains uncertain if it also plays this role in dwarfs. We study the ionised gas properties and stellar content of individual star-forming regions across three nearby, low-metallicity ($12+ O/H 7.5$), dwarf ($M_* odot $), starburst ($ SFR -2.8$) galaxies (J0921, KKH046, and Leo P) to investigate how massive stars influence their surroundings and how this influence changes as a function of environment. We extracted integrated spectra of 30 HII regions from archival VLT/MUSE integral field spectroscopic observations of these three dwarf starburst galaxies. We fitted the HII regions' main emission lines with Gaussian profiles to derive their oxygen abundances, electron densities, and luminosities, and we used the Stochastically Ligthing Up Galaxies ( SLUG ) code to derive the stellar mass, age, and bolometric luminosity of the stellar populations driving the HII regions. We quantified two pre-supernova stellar feedback mechanisms, namely the direct radiation pressure and photoionisation feedback, and explored how feedback strength varies with HII region properties. Our findings suggest that stellar feedback has less of an impact on evolved regions, with both the pressure of the ionised gas and the direct radiation pressure decreasing as a function of HII region size (i.e. the evolutionary stage). We find that these stellar feedback mechanisms are also dependent on the metallicity of the HII regions. These findings extend results from stellar feedback studies of more massive star-forming galaxies to the low-mass, low-metallicity regime. In addition, we conclude that the use of stochastic stellar population models significantly affects the relationships found between feedback-related pressure terms and HII region properties, and in particular that non-stochastic models can severely underestimate the bolometric luminosity of low-mass stellar populations.

A Two-Component Probability Distribution Function Describes the Mid-IR Emission from the Disks of Star-forming Galaxies

High-resolution JWST-MIRI images of nearby spiral galaxies reveal emission with complex substructures that trace dust heated both by massive young stars and the diffuse interstellar radiation field. We present high angular (0.″85) and physical resolution (20–80 pc) measurements of the probability distribution function (PDF) of mid-infrared (mid-IR) emission (7.7–21 μm) from 19 nearby star-forming galaxies from the PHANGS-JWST Cycle 1 Treasury. The PDFs of mid-IR emission from the disks of all 19 galaxies consistently show two distinct components: an approximately lognormal distribution at lower intensities and a high-intensity power law component. These two components only emerge once individual star-forming regions are resolved. Comparing with locations of H ii regions identified from Very Large Telescope/MUSE Hα mapping, we infer that the power-law component arises from star-forming regions and thus primarily traces dust heated by young stars. In the continuum-dominated 21 μm band, the power law is more prominent and contains roughly half of the total flux. At 7.7–11.3 μm, the power law is suppressed by the destruction of small grains (including PAHs) close to H ii regions, while the lognormal component tracing the dust column in diffuse regions appears more prominent. The width and shape of the lognormal diffuse emission PDFs in galactic disks remain consistent across our sample, implying a lognormal gas column density N(H) ≈ 1021 cm−2 shaped by supersonic turbulence with typical (isothermal) turbulent Mach numbers ≈5−15. Finally, we describe how the PDFs of galactic disks are assembled from dusty H ii regions and diffuse gas and discuss how the measured PDF parameters correlate with global properties such as star formation rate and gas surface density.

UV-continuum β slopes of individual z ∼ 2–6 clumps and their evolution

ABSTRACT We study the ultraviolet (UV) continuum β slope of a sample of 166 clumps, individual star-forming regions observed in high-redshift galaxies. They are hosted by 67 galaxies with redshift between 2 and 6.2, strongly lensed by the Hubble Frontier Fields cluster of galaxies MACS J0416.1 − 2403. The β slope is sensitive to a variety of physical properties, such as the metallicity, the age of the stellar population, the dust attenuation throughout the galaxy, the stellar initial mass function (IMF), and the star formation history (SFH). The aim of this study is to compare the β-values of individual clumps with those measured on the entire galaxy, to investigate possible physical differences between these regions and their hosts. We found a median value of β ∼ −2.4, lower than that of integrated galaxies. This result confirms that clumps are sites of intense star formation, populated by young, massive stars, whose spectrum strongly emits in the UV. This is also consistent with the assumption that the dust extinction at the location of the clumps is lower than the average extinction of the galaxy, or that clumps have a different IMF or SFH. We made use of the correlations, discovered for high-redshift galaxies, of the β-value with those of redshift and UV magnitude, MUV, finding that clumps follow the same relations, extended to much fainter magnitudes (MUV < −13). We also find evidence of eight clumps with extremely blue (β ≲ −2.7) slopes, which could be the signpost of low-metallicity stars and constrain the emissivity of ionizing photons at high redshift.

Resolved Kennicutt–Schmidt law in two strongly lensed star-forming galaxies at redshift 1

We study the star formation rate (SFR) vs. molecular gas mass (Mmol) scaling relation from hundreds to thousands of parsec in two strongly lensed galaxies at redshift z ∼ 1, the Cosmic Snake and A521. We trace the SFR using extinction-corrected rest-frame UV observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and Mmol using detections of the CO(4–3) line with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The similar angular resolutions of our HST and ALMA observations of 0.15 − 0.2″ combined with magnifications reaching μ > 20 enable us to resolve structures in the galaxies of sizes lower than 100 pc. These resolutions are close to those of studies of nearby galaxies. This allows us to investigate for the first time the Kennicutt–Schmidt (KS) law (SFR–Mmol surface densities) at different spatial scales, from galactic scales to ∼100 pc scales, in galaxies at z ∼ 1. At integrated scales we find that both galaxies satisfy the KS law defined by galaxies at redshifts between 1 and 2.5. We test the resolved KS (rKS) law in cells of sizes down to 200 pc in the two galaxies. We observe that this relationship generally holds in these z ∼ 1 galaxies, although its scatter increases significantly with decreasing spatial scales. We check the scale dependence of the spatial correlation between the surface densities of SFR and Mmol by focusing on apertures centred on individual star-forming regions and molecular clouds. We conclude that star-forming regions and molecular clouds become spatially de-correlated at ≲1 kpc in the Cosmic Snake, whereas they appear de-correlated at all spatial scales (from 400 pc to 6 kpc) in A521.

PHANGS-JWST First Results: Spurring on Star Formation: JWST Reveals Localized Star Formation in a Spiral Arm Spur of NGC 628

We combine JWST observations with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array CO and Very Large Telescope MUSE Hα data to examine off-spiral arm star formation in the face-on, grand-design spiral galaxy NGC 628. We focus on the northern spiral arm, around a galactocentric radius of 3–4 kpc, and study two spurs. These form an interesting contrast, as one is CO-rich and one CO-poor, and they have a maximum azimuthal offset in MIRI 21 μm and MUSE Hα of around 40° (CO-rich) and 55° (CO-poor) from the spiral arm. The star formation rate is higher in the regions of the spurs near spiral arms, but the star formation efficiency appears relatively constant. Given the spiral pattern speed and rotation curve of this galaxy and assuming material exiting the arms undergoes purely circular motion, these offsets would be reached in 100–150 Myr, significantly longer than the 21 μm and Hα star formation timescales (both < 10 Myr). The invariance of the star formation efficiency in the spurs versus the spiral arms indicates massive star formation is not only triggered in spiral arms, and cannot simply occur in the arms and then drift away from the wave pattern. These early JWST results show that in situ star formation likely occurs in the spurs, and that the observed young stars are not simply the “leftovers” of stellar birth in the spiral arms. The excellent physical resolution and sensitivity that JWST can attain in nearby galaxies will well resolve individual star-forming regions and help us to better understand the earliest phases of star formation.

A 30 kpc Spatially Extended Clumpy and Asymmetric Galactic Outflow at z ∼ 1.7

We image the spatial extent of a cool galactic outflow with fine-structure Fe ii* emission and resonant Mg ii emission in a gravitationally lensed star-forming galaxy at z = 1.70347. The Fe ii* and Mg ii (continuum-subtracted) emissions span out to radial distances of ∼14.33 and 26.5 kpc, respectively, with maximum spatial extents of ∼21 kpc for Fe ii* emission and ∼30 kpc for Mg ii emission. Mg ii emission is patchy and covers a total area of ∼184 kpc2, constraining the minimum area covered by the outflowing gas to be ∼13% of the total area. Mg ii emission is asymmetric and shows ∼21% more extended emission along the decl. direction. We constrain the covering fractions of the Fe ii* and Mg ii emission as a function of radial distance and characterize them with a power-law model. The Mg ii 2803 emission line shows two kinematically distinct emission components and may correspond to two distinct shells of outflowing gas with a velocity separation of Δv ∼ 400 km s−1. By using multiple images with different magnifications of the galaxy in the image plane, we trace the Fe ii* and Mg ii emissions around three individual star-forming regions. In all cases, both the Fe ii* and Mg ii emissions are more spatially extended compared to the star-forming regions traced by the [O ii] emission. These findings provide robust constraints on the spatial extent of the outflowing gas and, combined with outflow velocity and column density measurements, will give stringent constraints on mass-outflow rates of the galaxy.

Dust Emission as a Function of Stellar Population Age in the Nearby Galaxy M33

Dust emission at 8 μm has been extensively calibrated as an indicator of current star formation rate for galaxies and ∼kpc-size regions within galaxies. Yet, the exact link between the 8 μm emission and the young stellar populations in galaxies is still under question, as dust grains can be stochastically heated also by older field stars. In order to investigate this link, we have combined midinfrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope with a published star cluster candidates catalog for the Local Group galaxy M33. M33 is sufficiently close that the Spitzer's 8 μm images resolve individual regions of star formation. Star clusters represent almost-single-age stellar populations, which are significantly easier to model than more complex mixtures of stars. We find a decrease in the 8 μm luminosity per unit stellar mass as a function of age of the star clusters, with a large scatter that is consistent with varying fractions of stellar light absorbed by dust. The decrease and scatter both confirm findings based on more distant galaxies and are well described by simple models for the dust emission of a young stellar population. We conclude that the dust emission at 8 μm depends sensitively on the age of the stellar population, out to at least the oldest age analyzed here: ∼400 Myr. This dependence complicates the use of the 8 μm emission as a star formation rate indicator, at least for small galactic regions and individual star-forming regions. By leveraging the Spitzer legacy, this investigation paves the way for future explorations with the James Webb Space Telescope.

Kinematics and Feedback in H ii Regions in the Dwarf Starburst Galaxy IC 10

We present a survey of the central region of the nearest starburst galaxy, IC 10, using the W. M. Keck Observatory Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) at high spectral and spatial resolution. We map the central starburst of IC 10 to sample the kinematic and ionization properties of the individual star-forming regions. Using the low spectral resolution mode of KCWI, we map the oxygen abundance, and with the high spectral resolution mode, we identify 46 individual H II regions. These H II regions have an average radius of 4.0 pc, star formation rate ∼1.3 × 10−4 M ⊙ yr−1, and velocity dispersion ∼16 km s−1. None of the H II regions appear to be virialized (α vir ≫ 1), and on average, they show evidence of ongoing expansion. IC 10's H II regions are offset from the star-forming-region size–luminosity scaling relationships, as well as Larson’s Law that relates size and velocity dispersion. We investigate the balance of inward and outward pressure, P in and P out, finding P out > P in in 89% of H II regions, indicating feedback-driven expansion even in these low-mass H II regions. We find warm gas pressure (P gas) provides the dominant contribution to the outward pressure (P out). This counteracts the inward pressure, which is dominated by turbulence in the surrounding gas rather than self-gravity. Five H II regions show evidence of outflows that are most likely supported by either stellar winds (two regions) or champagne flows (three regions). These observations provide new insights into the state of the star-forming regions in IC 10 and negative feedback from low-mass clusters.

VLT/MUSE and ATCA Observations of the Host Galaxy of the Short GRB 080905A at z = 0.122

Abstract Short-GRB progenitors could come in various flavors, depending on the nature of the merging compact stellar objects (including a stellar-mass black hole or not) or depending on their ages (millions or billions of years). At a redshift of z = 0.122, the nearly face-on spiral host of the short GRB 080905A is one of the closest short-GRB host galaxies identified so far. This made it a preferred target to explore spatially resolved star formation and to investigate the afterglow position in the context of its star formation structures. We used VLT/MUSE integral-field unit observations, supplemented by ATCA 5.5/9.0 GHz radio-continuum measurements and publicly available HST data, to study the star formation activity in the GRB 080905A host galaxy. The MUSE observations reveal that the entire host is characterized by strong line emission. Using the Hα line flux, we measure for the entire galaxy an SFR of about 1.6 M ⊙ yr−1, consistent with its non-detection by ATCA. Several individual star-forming regions are scattered across the host. The most luminous region has a Hα luminosity that is nearly four times as high as the luminosity of the Tarantula nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Even though star-forming activity can be traced as close to about 3 kpc (in projection) distance to the GRB explosion site, stellar population synthesis calculations show that none of the Hα-bright star-forming regions is a likely birthplace of the short-GRB progenitor.

A Comparison between Nuclear Ring Star Formation in LIRGs and in Normal Galaxies with the Very Large Array

Abstract Nuclear rings are excellent laboratories for studying intense star formation. We present results from a study of nuclear star-forming rings in five nearby normal galaxies from the Star Formation in Radio Survey (SFRS) and four local LIRGs from the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey at sub-kiloparsec resolutions using Very Large Array high-frequency radio continuum observations. We find that nuclear ring star formation (NRSF) contributes 49%–60% of the total star formation of the LIRGs, compared to 7%–40% for the normal galaxies. We characterize a total of 57 individual star-forming regions in these rings, and find that with measured sizes of 10–200 pc, NRSF regions in the LIRGs have star formation rate (SFR) and ΣSFR up to 1.7 M ⊙ yr−1 and 402 M ⊙ yr−1 kpc−2, respectively, which are about 10 times higher than in NRSF regions in the normal galaxies with similar sizes, and comparable to lensed high-z star-forming regions. At ∼100–300 pc scales, we estimate low contributions (&lt;50%) of thermal free–free emission to total radio continuum emission at 33 GHz in the NRSF regions in the LIRGs, but large variations possibly exist at smaller physical scales. Finally, using archival sub-kiloparsec resolution CO (J = 1–0) data of nuclear rings in the normal galaxies and NGC 7469 (LIRG), we find a large scatter in gas depletion times at similar molecular gas surface densities, which tentatively points to a multimodal star formation relation on sub-kiloparsec scales.

Spatial Variation in Strong Line Ratios and Physical Conditions in Two Strongly Lensed Galaxies at z ∼ 1.4

Abstract Upcoming space-based integral field spectrographs will enable spatially resolved spectroscopy of distant galaxies, including at the scale of individual star-forming regions (i.e., down to just tens of parsecs) in galaxies that have been strongly gravitationally lensed. In the meantime, there is only a very small set of lensed galaxies where such spatial detail is possible at wavelengths containing important rest-optical emission lines, even with the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 infrared channel grisms. Here, we examine two of these sources, SDSS J1723+3411 and SDSS J2340+2947, using HST WFC3/IR grism data and supporting spatially unresolved spectroscopy from several ground-based instruments to explore the size of spatial variations in observed strong emission-line ratios like O32 and R23, which are sensitive to ionization parameter and metallicity, and the Balmer decrement, which is an indicator of reddening. We find significant spatial variation in the reddening and in the reddening-corrected O32 and R23 values that correspond to spreads of a few tenths of a dex in ionization parameter and metallicity. We also find clear evidence of a negative radial gradient in star formation in SDSS J2340+2947 and tentative evidence of one in SDSS J1723+3411, though its star formation is quite asymmetric. Finally, we find that reddening can vary enough spatially to make spatially resolved reddening corrections necessary in order to characterize gradients in line ratios and the physical conditions inferred from them, necessitating the use of space-based integral field units for future work on larger, more statistically robust samples.

A high pitch angle structure in the Sagittarius Arm

Context. In spiral galaxies, star formation tends to trace features of the spiral pattern, including arms, spurs, feathers, and branches. However, in our own Milky Way, it has been challenging to connect individual star-forming regions to their larger Galactic environment owing to our perspective from within the disk. One feature in nearly all modern models of the Milky Way is the Sagittarius Arm, located inward of the Sun with a pitch angle of ∼12°. Aims. We map the 3D locations and velocities of star-forming regions in a segment of the Sagittarius Arm using young stellar objects (YSOs) from the Spitzer/IRAC Candidate YSO (SPICY) catalog to compare their distribution to models of the arm. Methods. Distances and velocities for these objects are derived from Gaia EDR3 astrometry and molecular line surveys. We infer parallaxes and proper motions for spatially clustered groups of YSOs and estimate their radial velocities from the velocities of spatially associated molecular clouds. Results. We identify 25 star-forming regions in the Galactic longitude range ℓ ∼ 4.​ ° 0–18.​ ° 5 arranged in a narrow, ∼1 kpc long linear structure with a high pitch angle of ψ = 56° and a high aspect ratio of ∼7:1. This structure includes massive star-forming regions such as M8, M16, M17, and M20. The motions in the structure are remarkably coherent, with velocities in the direction of Galactic rotation of |Vφ|≈240 ± 3 km s−1 (slightly higher than average) and slight drifts inward (VR ≈ −4.3 km s−1) and in the negative Z direction (VZ ≈ −2.9 km s−1). The rotational shear experienced by the structure is ΔΩ = 4.6 km s−1 kpc−1. Conclusions. The observed 56° pitch angle is remarkably high for a segment of the Sagittarius Arm. We discuss possible interpretations of this feature as a substructure within the lower pitch angle Sagittarius Arm, as a spur, or as an isolated structure.

Mapping the Escape Fraction of Ionizing Photons Using Resolved Stars: A Much Higher Escape Fraction for NGC 4214

Abstract We demonstrate a new method for measuring the escape fraction of ionizing photons using Hubble Space Telescope imaging of resolved stars in NGC 4214, a local analog of high-redshift starburst galaxies that are thought to be responsible for cosmic reionization. Specifically, we forward model the UV through near-IR spectral energy distributions of ∼83,000 resolved stars to infer their individual ionizing flux outputs. We constrain the local escape fraction by comparing the number of ionizing photons produced by stars to the number that are either absorbed by dust or consumed by ionizing the surrounding neutral hydrogen in individual star-forming regions. We find substantial spatial variation in the escape fraction (0%–40%). Integrating over the entire galaxy yields a global escape fraction of 25 − 15 + 16 %. This value is much higher than previous escape fractions of zero reported for this galaxy. We discuss the sources of this apparent tension and demonstrate that the viewing angle and 3D interstellar medium geometric effects are the cause. If we assume that NGC 4214 has no internal dust, like many high-redshift galaxies, we find an escape fraction of 59% (an upper limit for NGC 4214). This is the first nonzero escape fraction measurement for UV-faint (M FUV = −15.9) galaxies at any redshift and supports the idea that starburst UV-faint dwarf galaxies can provide a sufficient number of ionizing photons to the intergalactic medium.

Warpfield population synthesis: the physics of (extra-)Galactic star formation and feedback-driven cloud structure and emission from sub-to-kpc scales

ABSTRACT We present a novel method to model galactic-scale star formation and emission of star clusters and a multiphase interstellar medium (ISM). We combine global parameters, including star formation rate and metallicity, with the 1D cloud evolution code warpfield to model the sources of feedback within a star-forming galaxy. Within individual star-forming regions, we include stellar evolution, stellar winds, radiation pressure, and supernovae, all coupled to the dynamical evolution of the 1D parental cloud in a highly non-linear fashion. Heating of the diffuse galactic gas and dust is calculated self-consistently with the age-, mass-, and density-dependent escape fractions of photons from these fully resolved local star-forming regions. We construct the interstellar radiation field, and we employ the multifrequency radiative transfer code polaris to produce synthetic emission maps for a one-to-one comparison with observations. We apply this to a cosmological simulation of a Milky-Way-like galaxy built-up in a high-resolution MHD simulation of cosmic structure formation. From this, we produce the multiscale/phase distribution of ISM density and temperature and present a synthesized all-sky H α map. We use a multipole expansion to show that the resulting maps reproduce all observed statistical emission characteristics. Next, we predict [S iii] 9530 Å, a key emission line that will be observed in several large forthcoming surveys. It suffers less extinction than other lines and provides information about star formation in very dense environments that are otherwise observationally inaccessible optically. Finally, we explore the effects of differential extinction, and discuss the consequences for the interpretation of H α emission at different viewing angles by an extragalactic observer.

A cautionary tale of attenuation in star-forming regions

ABSTRACT The attenuation of light from star-forming galaxies is correlated with a multitude of physical parameters including star formation rate, metallicity and total dust content. This variation in attenuation is even more evident on kiloparsec scales, which is the relevant size for many current spectroscopic integral field unit surveys. To understand the cause of this variation, we present and analyse Swift/UVOT near-UV (NUV) images and SDSS/MaNGA emission-line maps of 29 nearby (z &amp;lt; 0.084) star-forming galaxies. We resolve kiloparsec-sized star-forming regions within the galaxies and compare their optical nebular attenuation (i.e. the Balmer emission line optical depth, $\tau ^{l}_{B}\equiv \tau _{\textrm {H}\beta }-\tau _{\textrm {H}\alpha }$) and NUV stellar continuum attenuation (via the NUV power-law index, β) to the attenuation law described by Battisti et al. We show the data agree with that model, albeit with significant scatter. We explore the dependence of the scatter of the β–$\tau ^{l}_{B}$ measurements from the star-forming regions on different physical parameters, including distance from the nucleus, star formation rate and total dust content. Finally, we compare the measured $\tau ^{l}_{B}$ and β values for the individual star-forming regions with those of the integrated galaxy light. We find a strong variation in β between the kiloparsec scale and the larger galaxy scale that is not seen in $\tau ^{l}_{B}$. We conclude that the sightline dependence of UV attenuation and the reddening of β due to the light from older stellar populations could contribute to the scatter in the β–$\tau ^{l}_{B}$ relation.

A Very Large Array Survey of Luminous Extranuclear Star-forming Regions in Luminous Infrared Galaxies in GOALS

Abstract We present the first results of a high-resolution Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array imaging survey of luminous and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (U/LIRGs) in the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey. From the full sample of 68 galaxies, we have selected 25 luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) that show resolved extended emission at sufficient sensitivity to image individual regions of star formation activity beyond the nucleus. With wideband radio continuum observations, which sample the frequency range from 3 to 33 GHz, we have made extinction-free measurements of the luminosities and spectral indicies for a total of 48 individual star-forming regions identified as having deprojected galactocentric radii (r G ) that lie outside the 13.2 μm core of the galaxy. The median 3–33 GHz spectral index and 33 GHz thermal fraction measured for these “extranuclear” regions is −0.51 ± 0.13 and 65% ± 11%, respectively. These values are consistent with measurements made on matched spatial scales in normal star-forming galaxies, and suggests that these regions are more heavily dominated by thermal free–free emission relative to the centers of local U/LIRGs. Further, we find that the median star formation rate derived for these regions is ∼1 M ⊙ yr−1, and when we place them on the sub-galactic star-forming main sequence of galaxies (SFMS), we find they are offset from their host galaxies’ globally averaged specific star formation rates. We conclude that while nuclear starburst activity drives LIRGs above the SFMS, extranuclear star formation still proceeds in a more extreme fashion relative to what is seen in local spiral galaxies.

Radiative and mechanical feedback into the molecular gas in the Large Magellanic Cloud

With an aim of probing the physical conditions and excitation mechanisms of warm molecular gas in individual star-forming regions, we performed Herschel SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) observations of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud. In our FTS observations, important far-infrared (FIR) cooling lines in the interstellar medium, including CO J = 4–3 to J = 13–12, [C I] 370 μm, and [N II] 205 μm, were clearly detected. In combination with ground-based CO J = 1–0 and J = 3–2 data, we then constructed CO spectral line energy distributions (SLEDs) on ~10 pc scales over a ~60 pc × 60 pc area and found that the shape of the observed CO SLEDs considerably changes across 30 Doradus. For example, the peak transition Jp varies from J = 6–5 to J = 10–9, while the slope characterized by the high-to-intermediate J ratio α ranges from ~0.4 to ~1.8. To examine the source(s) of these variations in CO transitions, we analyzed the CO observations, along with [C II] 158 μm, [C I] 370 μm, [O I] 145 μm, H2 0–0 S(3), and FIR luminosity data, using state-of-the-art models of photodissociation regions and shocks. Our detailed modeling showed that the observed CO emission likely originates from highly compressed (thermal pressure P∕kB ~ 107–109 K cm−3) clumps on ~0.7–2 pc scales, which could be produced by either ultraviolet (UV) photons (UV radiation field GUV ~ 103–105 Mathis fields) or low-velocity C-type shocks (pre-shock medium density npre ~ 104–106 cm−3 and shock velocity vs ~ 5–10 km s−1). Considering the stellar content in 30 Doradus, however, we tentatively excluded the stellar origin of CO excitation and concluded that low-velocity shocks driven by kiloparsec-scale processes (e.g., interaction between the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds) are likely the dominant source of heating for CO. The shocked CO-bright medium was then found to be warm (temperature T ~ 100–500 K) and surrounded by a UV-regulated low-pressure component (P∕kB ~ a few (104 –105) K cm−3) that is bright in [C II] 158 μm, [C I] 370 μm, [O I] 145 μm, and FIR dust continuum emission.

Molecular Gas Density Measured with H2CO and CS toward a Spiral Arm of M51

Abstract Observations of various molecular lines toward a disk region of a nearby galaxy are now feasible, and they are being employed as diagnostic tools to study star formation activities there. However, the spatial resolution attainable for a nearby galaxy with currently available radio telescopes is 10–1000 pc, which is much larger than the scales of individual star-forming regions and molecular-cloud cores. Hence, it is of fundamental importance to elucidate which part of an interstellar medium such spatially unresolved observations are tracing. Here we present sensitive measurements of the H2CO ( ) line at 72 GHz toward giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the spiral arm of M51 using the NRO 45 m and IRAM 30 m telescopes. In conjunction with the previously observed H2CO (202 − 101) and CS (2 − 1 and 3 − 2) lines, we derive the H2 density of the emitting regions to be (0.6–2.6) × 104 cm−3 and (2.9–12) × 104 cm−3 for H2CO and CS, respectively, by the non-LTE analyses, where we assume the source size of 0.8–1 kpc and the gas kinetic temperature of 10–20 K. The derived H2 density indicates that the emission of H2CO and CS is not localized to star-forming cores, but is likely distributed over an entire region of GMCs. Such widespread distributions of H2CO and CS are also supported by models assuming lognormal density distributions over the 1 kpc region. Thus, contributions from the widespread less dense components should be taken into account for interpretation of the molecular emission observed with a GMC-scale resolution. The different H2 densities derived for H2CO and CS imply their different distributions. We discuss these differences in terms of the formation processes of H2CO and CS.

Properties of ionized outflows in MaNGA DR2 galaxies

ABSTRACT We present the results from a systematic search and characterization of ionized outflows in nearby galaxies using the data from the second Data Release of the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Arecibo Point Observatory (MaNGA) Survey (DR2; &amp;gt;2700 galaxies, z ≤ 0.015). Using the spatially resolved spectral information provided by the MANGA data, we have identified ∼5200 H α-emitting regions across the galaxies and searched for signatures of ionized outflows. We find evidence for ionized outflows in 105 regions from 103 galaxies, roughly 7 per cent of all the H α-emitting galaxies identified in this work. Most of the outflows are nuclear, with only two cases detected in off-nuclear regions. Our analysis allows us to study ionized outflows in individual regions with star formation rates (SFRs) down to ∼0.01 M⊙ yr−1, extending the ranges probed by previous works. The kinematics of the outflowing gas is strongly linked to the type of ionization mechanism: regions characterized by low-ionization emission region emission (LIER) host the outflows with more extreme kinematics (FWHMbroad ∼ 900 km s−1), followed by those originated in active galactic nuclei (550 km s−1), ‘Intermediate’ (450 km s−1), and star-forming (350 km s−1) regions. Moreover, in most of the outflows we find evidence for gas ionized by shocks. We find a trend for higher outflow kinematics towards larger stellar masses of the host galaxies but no significant variation as a function of star formation properties within the SFR regime we probe (∼0.01–10 M⊙ yr−1). Our results also show that the fraction of outflowing gas that can escape from galaxies decreases towards higher dynamical masses, contributing to the preservation of the mass–metallicity relation by regulating the amount of metals in galaxies. Finally, assuming that the extensions of the outflows are significantly larger than the individual star-forming regions, as found in previous works, our results also support the presence of star formation within ionized outflows, as recently reported by Maiolino et al. (2017) and Gallagher et al. (2018).