Dr Thomas Williams

Abstract:

Context. Nearby galaxies exhibit a variety of structures, including so-called central or (circum-)nuclear rings that are similar to the Milky Way (MW) Central Molecular Zone (CMZ). These rings are common in barred galaxies and can be gas-rich and highly star-forming. Aims. We aim to study the molecular gas content and star formation rate of central rings within nearby galaxies and link them to global galaxy properties, especially the bar morphology. Methods. We utilized 1″(≲100 pc) resolution CO(2–1) observations from the PHANGS-ALMA survey, visually identifying 20 central rings and determine their properties. For 14 of these rings, MUSE observations tracing star formation rate (SFR) surface density were available. We derived the rings’ geometry, integrated molecular gas masses, SFRs, depletion times, and compared them to host galaxy and bar properties from the literature. Results. Molecular gas is an effective tracer for central rings. Previous studies have used ionized gas and dust tracers to identify central rings in galaxies of similar morphological types as the PHANGS galaxies (numerical Hubble type T ∼ −3 to T ∼ 9). In comparison, molecular gas yields similar fractions of galaxies hosting central rings and similar radii distributions. The gaseous central rings have typical radii of ∼ 400 +250 −150 pc, molecular gas masses of log( M / M ⊙ ) ∼ 8.1 +0.17 −0.23 , and SFRs of ∼ 0.21 +0.15 −0.16 M ⊙ /yr. As a result, they contribute 5.6 +4.5 −2.1 % and 13 +10 −5 % to their host galaxies’ molecular gas mass and SFR, respectively. While the MW CMZ sits at the lower end of the radius, molecular gas mass, and SFR distribution, it matches well in terms of ring molecular gas mass and SFR fraction, and depletion time. Longer bars contain more massive molecular central rings, but there is no correlation between the classical bar strength parameters ( Q b , ε bar , A 2 max ) and the ring’s molecular gas content. Conclusions. Although absolute central ring properties (ring radius, molecular gas mass, SFR) likely depend on host galaxy properties, the similarities between the MW CMZ and PHANGS central rings in relative parameters (molecular gas and SFR fraction, depletion time) suggest that the processes of gas inflow and star formation are similar for central rings across nearby galaxies.

Abstract:

We use the full-disk Very Large Telescope/MUSE mosaic of NGC 253 to identify 2492 H ii regions and study their resolved structure. With an average physical resolution of 17 pc, this is one of the largest samples of highly resolved spectrally mapped extragalactic H ii regions. Regions of all luminosities exhibit a characteristic emission profile described by a double Gaussian with a marginally resolved or unresolved core with radius < 10 pc surrounded by a more extended halo of emission with radius = 20–30 pc. Approximately 80% of the emission of a region originates from the halo component. As a result of this compact structure, the luminosity–radius relations for core and effective radii of H ii regions depend sensitively on the adopted methodology. Only the isophotal radius yields a robust relationship in NGC 253, but this measurement has an ambiguous physical meaning. We invert the measured emission profiles to infer density profiles and find central densities of ne ≈ 10–100 cm−3. In the brightest regions, these agree well with densities inferred from the [S ii] λλ6716, 6730 doublet. The central density of H ii regions correlates well with the surface brightness within the effective radius. We show that this same scaling relation applies to the recent MUSE + Hubble Space Telescope catalog for 19 nearby galaxies. We also discuss potential limitations, including completeness, impacts of background subtraction and spatial resolution, and the generality of our results when applied to other galaxies.

Abstract:

Molecular gas is crucial to understanding star formation and galaxy evolution, but the giant molecular clouds (GMCs) of early-type galaxies (ETGs) have rarely been studied. Here, we present analyses of the spatially resolved GMCs of the lenticular galaxy NGC 1387, exploiting high spatial resolution ( or 14 pc) CO(2-1) line observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. We identify 1285 individual GMCs and measure the fundamental properties (radius, velocity dispersion, and molecular gas mass) of each with a modified version of the CPROPStoo package. Unusually for an ETG, the GMCs of NGC 1387 follow scaling relations very similar to those of the Milky Way disc and Local Group galaxy clouds, and most are virialized. GMCs with large masses and radii and/or small galactocentric distances have their angular momenta aligned with the large-scale galactic rotation, while other GMCs do not. These results show that ETGs have more diversified GMC properties than previously thought. We discuss potential reasons for such diversity, and viewing-angle dependency is a plausible candidate.