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Dense Cloud Cores revealed by ALMA CO observations in the low metallicity dwarf galaxy WLM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2017

M. Rubio ,
B. Elmegreen ,
D. Hunter ,
J. Cortes ,
E. Brinks  and
P. Cigan
M. Rubio
Affiliation:
Departamento de Astronomia, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 36-D, Santiago, Chile email: [email protected]
B. Elmegreen
Affiliation:
IBM Research Division, T.J. Watson Research Center NY 10598, USA email: [email protected]
D. Hunter
Affiliation:
Lowell Observatory Flagstaff, Arizona 86001, USA email: [email protected]
J. Cortes
Affiliation:
Joint Alma Observatory Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Chile email: [email protected]
E. Brinks
Affiliation:
Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK email: [email protected]
P. Cigan
Affiliation:
Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff, UK email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Understanding stellar birth requires observations of the clouds in which they form. These clouds are dense and self-gravitating, and in all existing observations, they are molecular with H2 the dominant species and CO the best available. When the abundances of carbon and oxygen are low compared to hydrogen, and the opacity from dust is also low, as in primeval galaxies and local dwarf irregular galaxies CO forms slowly and is easily destroyed, so it cannot accumulate inside dense clouds. Then we lose our ability to trace the gas in regions of star formation and we lose critical information on the temperatures, densities, and velocities of the material that collapses. I will report on high resolution observations with ALMA of CO clouds in the local group dwarf irregular galaxy WLM, which has a metallicity that is 13% of the solar value and 50% lower than the previous CO detection threshold and the properties derived of very small dense CO clouds mapped..

Keywords

molecular clouddwarf galaxylow metallicity
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 11 , Symposium S321: Formation and Evolution of Galaxy Outskirts , March 2016 , pp. 229 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2017 

References

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