Article contents
Molecular gas in spiral galaxy centers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 October 2008
Abstract
Multiline 12CO and 13CO measurements of a large sample of galaxy centers reveal the physical conditions of the pronounced central molecular gas concentrations in spiral galaxies. The molecular gas occurs in at least two components: hot and relatively tenuous, dense and relatively cool. Most of the gas mass is in the former component. Molecular gas is strongly concentrated within in a few hundred parsec from the nucleus, but the central few dozen parsecs are frequently gas-poor. The CO-to-H2 conversion factor is three to ten times lower in galaxy centers than in the Milky Way disk.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- European Astronomical Society Publications Series , Volume 31: Far-Infrared Workshop 2007 , 2008 , pp. 89 - 92
- Copyright
- © EAS, EDP Sciences, 2008
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