The star formation law at GMC scales in M33, the Triangulum galaxy

Williams, Thomas G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1710-3914, Gear, Walter K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6789-6196 and Smith, Matthew W. L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3532-6970 2018. The star formation law at GMC scales in M33, the Triangulum galaxy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 479 (1) , pp. 297-314. 10.1093/mnras/sty1476

Preview

PDF - Published Version Download (8MB) | Preview

Abstract

We present a high spatial resolution study, on scales of ∼100 pc, of the relationship between star formation rate (SFR) and gas content within Local Group galaxy M33. Combining deep SCUBA-2 observations with archival GALEX, SDSS, WISE, Spitzer, and submillimetre Herschel data, we are able to model the entire SED from UV to sub-mm wavelengths. We calculate the SFR on a pixel-by-pixel basis using the total infrared luminosity, and find a total SFR of 0.17±0.06M ⊙ 0.17±0.06M⊙ yr−1, somewhat lower than our other two measures of SFR – combined FUV and 24 μ μ m SFR ( 0.25 +0.10 −0.07 M ⊙ 0.25−0.07+0.10M⊙ yr−1) and SED-fitting tool magphys ( 0.33 +0.05 −0.06 M ⊙ 0.33−0.06+0.05M⊙ yr−1). We trace the total gas using a combination of the 21cm H i line for atomic hydrogen, and CO(J=2−1) data for molecular hydrogen. We have also traced the total gas using dust masses. We study the star formation law in terms of molecular gas, total gas, and gas from dust. We perform an analysis of the star formation law on a variety of pixel scales, from 25 arcsec to 500 arcsec (100 pc to 2 kpc). At kpc scales, we find that a linear Schmidt-type power law index is suitable for molecular gas, but the index appears to be much higher with total gas, and gas from dust. Whilst we find a strong scale dependence on the Schmidt index, the gas depletion time-scale is invariant with pixel scale.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0035-8711
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	3 September 2018
Date of Acceptance:	25 May 2018
Last Modified:	06 May 2023 23:09
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/114549

Citation Data

Cited 28 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item