EPoS Contribution
EPoS Contribution
Giant molecular cloud properties are influenced by galactic environment

Annie Hughes
MPIA, Heidelberg, DE
Observations of star formation and molecular gas in nearby galaxies provide a complementary perspective to detailed studies of individual sites of star formation in the Milky Way. Surveys of the molecular gas in external galaxies with cloud-scale resolution are especially valuable, since they characterize the initial conditions for star formation across different galactic environments. In this talk, I will review our new findings about the molecular cloud populations in several nearby galaxies, focussing on our results from the PAWS CO survey of the nearby spiral galaxy M51, and two new extensions of the MAGMA CO survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which target dense gas emission tracers (e.g. HCO+, HCN, HNC) and cold dust structures identified in the Planck all-sky submillimetre surveys. The overall picture that emerges from these studies is that (i) Larson's scaling relations are not universal and (ii) both the physical properties and the star-forming activity of molecular clouds depend on galactic environment. In M51, dynamical effects related to the stellar bar and spiral arm structures appear to play a key role in regulating the formation, destruction and stability of molecular clouds. To conclude, I will present an update on our cycle 1 ALMA observations of the molecular cloud population in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC628.
Collaborators:
S. Meidt, MPIA, Germany
E. Schinnerer, MPIA, Germany
T. Wong, U Illinois, US
J.-P. Bernard, IRAP, France
Key publication

Suggested Sessions: Molecular Clouds