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
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.
Related projects
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