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Cold Molecular Gas as a Possible Component of Dark Matter in the Outer Parts of Disk Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2016

Ronald J. Allen
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Rosa Diaz-Miller
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

Abstract

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In the last few years new evidence has been presented for the presence of ongoing massive star formation in the outer HI disks of galaxies. These discoveries strongly suggest that precursor molecular gas must also be present in some physical state which is escaping detection by the usual means (CO(1-0), IR, etc.). We present a model for such a gas in a framework which views the HI as the result of an ongoing “photodissociation ↔ dust grain reformation” equilibrium in a cold, clumpy molecular medium with a small area filling factor.

Type
Part 7: Baryonic Dark Matter
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004