Bibcode
Vila-Vilaro, B.; Cepa, J.; Zabludoff, A.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Volume 218, Issue 2, article id. 28, 20 pp. (2015).
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6
2015
Citations
10
Refereed citations
10
Description
Using the ARO KP 12 m telescope, we have carried out a CO(1–0) and
13CO(1–0) survey of the central regions of 113
“normal” spiral galaxies (i.e., unperturbed and with little
or no nuclear activity). Our sample spans the whole range of
morphological types (T = 1–7), with distances up to 75 Mpc. The
detection rates for the observed objects are 99.1% for CO(1–0) and
75.2% for 13CO(1–0), respectively. For three of the
targets in our sample (i.e., NGC 0891, NGC 2903, and NGC 3521), we also
carry out 13CO(1–0) mapping along their major axes,
which, combined with data from the literature, reveal differences in
their molecular gas properties. Analysis of the beam-matched line
intensity ratios of CO(1–0)/13CO(1–0) (hereafter
{R}1312) indicates that for “normal”
spiral galaxies the scatter in {R}1312 is of
≈x3, and has an average value (including upper limits) of 10.4
± 0.4 (in contrast with the values of 3–5 in typical giant
molecular clouds and 13 ± 6 in Starburst Galaxies). No
significant correlations (at the ≥2σ level) are found between
{R}1312 and the total far-infrared (FIR)
luminosity, the FIR colors, and the fraction of area sampled in the disk
of each galaxy. There is a tentative (1.4σ significance)
correlation between {R}1312 and morphological type
along the Hubble sequence. The observed scatter in
{R}1312 can be explained by intrinsic variations
among the CO conversion factors. The observations presented in this
work, which include the most extensive 13CO(1–0)
extragalactic survey published so far on “normal” spiral
galaxies are ideally suited for use in recovering the
“missing” flux of interferometers with elements of similar
dish sizes.
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