Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter GalaxyEvol

Thursday, 12 September 2024, 17:03   (S21)

Molecular Cloud Matching in CO and Dust in M33

Eduard Keilmann, Slawa Kabanovic, Nicola Schneider, Volker Ossenkopf-Okada, Jürgen Stutzki, Robert Simon, Christof Buchbender, Dominik Riechers, Frank Bigiel, Fatemeh Tabatabaei
University of Cologne, University of Bonn, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie

Understanding the physical properties of Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) is crucial for insights into molecular cloud dynamics and star formation processes. We analyze GMC properties in the Local Group galaxy M33 using Herschel dust and 12CO(2-1) IRAM 30m data, comparing them with data of the Milky Way. We apply Dendrograms to a novel 2D dust-derived N_H2 map at an 18.2'' resolution, and 12CO(2-1) data, with a variable Xco factor map instead of a constant value. We find that M33 hosts less massive and lower-(surface mass)density GMCs than the Milky Way by an order of magnitude. The largest GMCs in both galaxies show similar distributions and comparable sizes above 100 pc, suggesting a size limit for GMCs in both galaxies. We find no gradient in GMC properties with galactocentric radius in M33, although larger GMCs are found in the spiral arms, with higher surface mass densities and masses near the center, indicating increased star formation activity. The GMC mass spectrum follows a power-law distribution, which tends to vary with galactic environments, similar to the Milky Way. This study highlights both similarities and notable differences in GMC properties between M33 and the Milky Way, suggesting varying conditions for star formation across these galaxies.