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Investigating the Drivers of CO-to-H2 Conversion Factor Variations in Nearby Galaxy Centers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2023

Yu-Hsuan Teng*
Affiliation:
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Karin Sandstrom
Affiliation:
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
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Abstract

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The CO-to-H2 conversion factor (αCO) is crucial for accurate estimation of the amount and properties of molecular gas. However, αCO is known to vary with environmental conditions, and previous kpc-scale studies have revealed lower αCO in the centers of some barred galaxies, including NGC 3351, 3627, and 4321. We present ALMA Band 3, 6, and 7 observations toward the inner ∼2 kpc of these galaxies tracing 12CO, 13CO, and C18O lines at ∼100 pc resolution. We show that dynamical effects resulting from turbulence/shear can lead to substantially lower αCO in the bar-driven inflows of NGC 3351 due to lower optical depth. A clear, positive correlation between αCO and 12CO optical depth is seen in all three galaxy centers. We also find that the CO/13CO(2–1) ratio mainly traces the 12CO optical depth, and thus it may be a useful observable in predicting αCO variation in galaxy centers.

Type
Contributed Paper
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union

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