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Can Galactic GMCs be Identified from l-v Diagrams?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

David S. Adler  and
William W. Roberts Jr.
David S. Adler
Affiliation:
Departments of Astronomy and Applied Mathematics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903
William W. Roberts Jr.
Affiliation:
Departments of Astronomy and Applied Mathematics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903

Extract

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Identifying the spiral nature of the distribution of gas in the Galaxy has been a subject of much research in the past thirty years. The position of the sun in the disk of the Galaxy presents us with a problem of perspective: how does one identify the cloud system from within the system? Longitude-velocity (l-v) diagrams have been used to try to determine the distribution of interstellar gas, but problems inherent in the methods have been pointed out previously (Burton 1971). Recent Galactic CO surveys have been used in attempts to map the distribution of molecular cloud complexes in the disk of the Galaxy (Dame, et al. 1986). Here, we use numerical simulations of the molecular cloud system in a spiral galaxy to consider the following question: to what extent can concentrations of emission in the l-v diagram (LVCs) be considered complexes of gas in the disk of the Galaxy (GMCs)?

Type
Joint Commission Meeting
Information
Highlights of Astronomy , Volume 8: Highlights of Astronomy. As presented at the XXth General Assembly of the IAU, 1988 , 1989 , pp. 587 - 588
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1989

References

Burton, W.B. 1971, Astr. Ap., 10, 76.Google Scholar
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Roberts, W.W., and Hausman, M.A. 1984, Astrophys. J., 277, 744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar