Kinematics of the ionized and molecular gas in nearby luminous infrared interacting galaxies

Zaragoza-Cardiel, J.; Beckman, J. E.; Font, J.; Rosado, M.; Camps-Fariña, A.; Borlaff, A.
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 465, Issue 3, p.3461-3474

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3
2017
Number of authors
6
IAC number of authors
4
Citations
5
Refereed citations
5
Description
We have observed three luminous infrared galaxy systems which are pairs of interacting galaxies, with the Galaxy Hα Fabry-Perot system mounted on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, and combined the observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array observations of these systems in CO emission to compare the physical properties of the star formation regions and the molecular gas clouds, and specifically the internal kinematics of the star-forming regions. We identified 88 star-forming regions in the Hα emission data cubes, and 27 molecular cloud complexes in the CO emission data cubes. The surface densities of the star formation rate and the molecular gas are significantly higher in these systems than in non-interacting galaxies and the Galaxy, and are closer to the surface densities of the star formation rate and the molecular gas of extreme star-forming galaxies at higher redshifts. The large values of the velocity dispersion also show the enhanced gas surface density. The H II regions are situated on the SFR - σv envelope, and so are also in virial equilibrium. Since the virial parameter decreases with the surface densities of both the star formation rate and the molecular gas, we claim that the clouds presented here are gravitationally dominated rather than being in equilibrium with the external pressure.
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Poster Almeria Astronomy week
Kinematic, Structural and Composition Studies of the Interstellar and Intergalactic Media
The basic objective of the broject is to investigate the evolution of galaxies by deepening our understanding of the interaction between the insterstellar medium and the stars.The main technique which we use is the two-dimensional kinematic study of whole galaxies observed using our instrument:GHaFaS, a Fabry-Perot interferometer on the William
Prof.
John E. Beckman