The Molecular Cloud Lifecycle II: Formation and Destruction of Molecular Clouds Diagnosed via H$_2$ Fluorescent Emission Emission
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| Natura: | Preprint |
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2024
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| author | Burkhart, Blakesley Bialy, Shmuel Seifried, Daniel Walch, Stefanie Hamden, Erika Haworth, Thomas J. Hoadley, Keri Kong, Shuo Johnson, Madisen Jeffreson, Sarah Krumholz, Mark R. Lee, Min-Young Sternberg, Amiel Turner, Neal J. |
| author_facet | Burkhart, Blakesley Bialy, Shmuel Seifried, Daniel Walch, Stefanie Hamden, Erika Haworth, Thomas J. Hoadley, Keri Kong, Shuo Johnson, Madisen Jeffreson, Sarah Krumholz, Mark R. Lee, Min-Young Sternberg, Amiel Turner, Neal J. |
| contents | Molecular hydrogen (H$_2$) formation and dissociation are key processes that drive the gas lifecycle in galaxies. Using the SImulating the LifeCycle of Molecular Clouds (SILCC) zoom-in simulation suite, we explore the utility of future observations of H$_2$ dissociation and formation for tracking the lifecycle of molecular clouds. The simulations used in this work include non-equilibrium H$_2$ formation, stellar radiation, sink particles, and turbulence. We find that, at early times in the cloud evolution, H$_2$ formation rapidly outpaces dissociation and molecular clouds build their mass from the atomic reservoir in their environment. Rapid H$_2$ formation is also associated with a higher early star formation rate. For the clouds studied here, H$_2$ is strongly out of chemical equilibrium during the early stages of cloud formation but settles into a bursty chemical steady-state about 2 Myrs after the first stars form. At the latest stage of cloud evolution, dissociation outweighs formation and the clouds enter a dispersal phase. We discuss how theories for the molecular cloud lifecycle and the star formation efficiency may be distinguished with observational measurements of H$_2$ fluorescence with a space-based high-resolution FUV spectrometer, such as the proposed Hyperion and Eos NASA Explorer missions. Such missions would enable measurements of the H$_2$ dissociation and formation rates, which we demonstrate can be connected to different phases in a molecular cloud's star-forming life, including cloud building, rapidly star-forming, H$_2$ chemical equilibrium, and cloud destruction. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_01587 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The Molecular Cloud Lifecycle II: Formation and Destruction of Molecular Clouds Diagnosed via H$_2$ Fluorescent Emission Emission Burkhart, Blakesley Bialy, Shmuel Seifried, Daniel Walch, Stefanie Hamden, Erika Haworth, Thomas J. Hoadley, Keri Kong, Shuo Johnson, Madisen Jeffreson, Sarah Krumholz, Mark R. Lee, Min-Young Sternberg, Amiel Turner, Neal J. Astrophysics of Galaxies Molecular hydrogen (H$_2$) formation and dissociation are key processes that drive the gas lifecycle in galaxies. Using the SImulating the LifeCycle of Molecular Clouds (SILCC) zoom-in simulation suite, we explore the utility of future observations of H$_2$ dissociation and formation for tracking the lifecycle of molecular clouds. The simulations used in this work include non-equilibrium H$_2$ formation, stellar radiation, sink particles, and turbulence. We find that, at early times in the cloud evolution, H$_2$ formation rapidly outpaces dissociation and molecular clouds build their mass from the atomic reservoir in their environment. Rapid H$_2$ formation is also associated with a higher early star formation rate. For the clouds studied here, H$_2$ is strongly out of chemical equilibrium during the early stages of cloud formation but settles into a bursty chemical steady-state about 2 Myrs after the first stars form. At the latest stage of cloud evolution, dissociation outweighs formation and the clouds enter a dispersal phase. We discuss how theories for the molecular cloud lifecycle and the star formation efficiency may be distinguished with observational measurements of H$_2$ fluorescence with a space-based high-resolution FUV spectrometer, such as the proposed Hyperion and Eos NASA Explorer missions. Such missions would enable measurements of the H$_2$ dissociation and formation rates, which we demonstrate can be connected to different phases in a molecular cloud's star-forming life, including cloud building, rapidly star-forming, H$_2$ chemical equilibrium, and cloud destruction. |
| title | The Molecular Cloud Lifecycle II: Formation and Destruction of Molecular Clouds Diagnosed via H$_2$ Fluorescent Emission Emission |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.01587 |