Stellar structures, molecular gas, and star formation across the PHANGS sample of nearby galaxies

Fuente: arXiv

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Querejeta, M., Schinnerer, E., Meidt, S., Sun, J., Leroy, A. K., Emsellem, E., Klessen, R. S., Munoz-Mateos, J. C., Salo, H., Laurikainen, E., Beslic, I., Blanc, G. A., Chevance, M., Dale, D. A., Eibensteiner, C., Faesi, C., Garcia-Rodriguez, A., Glover, S. C. O., Grasha, K., Henshaw, J., Herrera, C., Hughes, A., Kreckel, K., Kruijssen, J. M. D., Liu, D., Murphy, E. J., Pan, H. -A., Pety, J., Razza, A., Rosolowsky, E., Saito, T., Schruba, A., Usero, A., Watkins, E. J., Williams, T. G.
Format:	Preprint
Published:	2021
Subjects:	Astrophysics of Galaxies
Online Access:	Acceder al recurso
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author	Querejeta, M. Schinnerer, E. Meidt, S. Sun, J. Leroy, A. K. Emsellem, E. Klessen, R. S. Munoz-Mateos, J. C. Salo, H. Laurikainen, E. Beslic, I. Blanc, G. A. Chevance, M. Dale, D. A. Eibensteiner, C. Faesi, C. Garcia-Rodriguez, A. Glover, S. C. O. Grasha, K. Henshaw, J. Herrera, C. Hughes, A. Kreckel, K. Kruijssen, J. M. D. Liu, D. Murphy, E. J. Pan, H. -A. Pety, J. Razza, A. Rosolowsky, E. Saito, T. Schruba, A. Usero, A. Watkins, E. J. Williams, T. G.
author_facet	Querejeta, M. Schinnerer, E. Meidt, S. Sun, J. Leroy, A. K. Emsellem, E. Klessen, R. S. Munoz-Mateos, J. C. Salo, H. Laurikainen, E. Beslic, I. Blanc, G. A. Chevance, M. Dale, D. A. Eibensteiner, C. Faesi, C. Garcia-Rodriguez, A. Glover, S. C. O. Grasha, K. Henshaw, J. Herrera, C. Hughes, A. Kreckel, K. Kruijssen, J. M. D. Liu, D. Murphy, E. J. Pan, H. -A. Pety, J. Razza, A. Rosolowsky, E. Saito, T. Schruba, A. Usero, A. Watkins, E. J. Williams, T. G.
contents	We identify stellar structures in the PHANGS sample of 74 nearby galaxies and construct morphological masks of sub-galactic environments based on Spitzer 3.6 micron images. At the simplest level, we distinguish centres, bars, spiral arms, interarm and discs without strong spirals. Slightly more sophisticated masks include rings and lenses, publicly released but not explicitly used in this paper. We examine trends using PHANGS-ALMA CO(2-1) intensity maps and tracers of star formation. The interarm regions and discs without strong spirals dominate in area, whereas molecular gas and star formation are quite evenly distributed among the five basic environments. We reproduce the molecular Kennicutt-Schmidt relation with a slope compatible with unity within the uncertainties, without significant slope differences among environments. In contrast to early studies, we find that bars are not always deserts devoid of gas and star formation, but instead they show large diversity. Similarly, spiral arms do not account for most of the gas and star formation in disc galaxies, and they do not have shorter depletion times than the interarm regions. Spiral arms accumulate gas and star formation, without systematically boosting the star formation efficiency. Centres harbour remarkably high surface densities and on average shorter depletion times than other environments. Centres of barred galaxies show higher surface densities and wider distributions compared to the outer disc; yet, depletion times are similar to unbarred galaxies, suggesting highly intermittent periods of star formation when bars episodically drive gas inflow, without enhancing the central star formation efficiency permanently. In conclusion, we provide quantitative evidence that stellar structures in galaxies strongly affect the organisation of molecular gas and star formation, but their impact on star formation efficiency is more subtle.
format	Preprint
id	arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2109_04491
institution	arXiv
publishDate	2021
record_format	arxiv
spellingShingle	Stellar structures, molecular gas, and star formation across the PHANGS sample of nearby galaxies Querejeta, M. Schinnerer, E. Meidt, S. Sun, J. Leroy, A. K. Emsellem, E. Klessen, R. S. Munoz-Mateos, J. C. Salo, H. Laurikainen, E. Beslic, I. Blanc, G. A. Chevance, M. Dale, D. A. Eibensteiner, C. Faesi, C. Garcia-Rodriguez, A. Glover, S. C. O. Grasha, K. Henshaw, J. Herrera, C. Hughes, A. Kreckel, K. Kruijssen, J. M. D. Liu, D. Murphy, E. J. Pan, H. -A. Pety, J. Razza, A. Rosolowsky, E. Saito, T. Schruba, A. Usero, A. Watkins, E. J. Williams, T. G. Astrophysics of Galaxies We identify stellar structures in the PHANGS sample of 74 nearby galaxies and construct morphological masks of sub-galactic environments based on Spitzer 3.6 micron images. At the simplest level, we distinguish centres, bars, spiral arms, interarm and discs without strong spirals. Slightly more sophisticated masks include rings and lenses, publicly released but not explicitly used in this paper. We examine trends using PHANGS-ALMA CO(2-1) intensity maps and tracers of star formation. The interarm regions and discs without strong spirals dominate in area, whereas molecular gas and star formation are quite evenly distributed among the five basic environments. We reproduce the molecular Kennicutt-Schmidt relation with a slope compatible with unity within the uncertainties, without significant slope differences among environments. In contrast to early studies, we find that bars are not always deserts devoid of gas and star formation, but instead they show large diversity. Similarly, spiral arms do not account for most of the gas and star formation in disc galaxies, and they do not have shorter depletion times than the interarm regions. Spiral arms accumulate gas and star formation, without systematically boosting the star formation efficiency. Centres harbour remarkably high surface densities and on average shorter depletion times than other environments. Centres of barred galaxies show higher surface densities and wider distributions compared to the outer disc; yet, depletion times are similar to unbarred galaxies, suggesting highly intermittent periods of star formation when bars episodically drive gas inflow, without enhancing the central star formation efficiency permanently. In conclusion, we provide quantitative evidence that stellar structures in galaxies strongly affect the organisation of molecular gas and star formation, but their impact on star formation efficiency is more subtle.
title	Stellar structures, molecular gas, and star formation across the PHANGS sample of nearby galaxies
topic	Astrophysics of Galaxies
url	https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.04491