The molecular gas in Luminous Infrared Galaxies I: CO lines, extreme physical conditions, and their drivers

We report results from a large molecular line survey of Luminous Infrared Galaxies (L_{IR} >= 10^{11} L_sol) in the local Universe (z=100 K) and dense (n>=10^4 cm^{-3}) gas phase, involving galaxy-sized (~(few)x10^9 M_sol) gas mass reservoirs under conditions that would otherwise amount only ~...

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Veröffentlicht in:arXiv.org 2012-04
Hauptverfasser: Papadopoulos, Padelis P, van der Werf, Paul, Xilouris, E M, Isaak, Kate G, Gao, Yu, Muehle, Stefanie
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:We report results from a large molecular line survey of Luminous Infrared Galaxies (L_{IR} >= 10^{11} L_sol) in the local Universe (z=100 K) and dense (n>=10^4 cm^{-3}) gas phase, involving galaxy-sized (~(few)x10^9 M_sol) gas mass reservoirs under conditions that would otherwise amount only ~1% of mass per typical SF molecular cloud in the Galaxy. Some of the highest excitation CO SLEDs are found in the so-called Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies and seem irreducible to ensembles of ordinary SF-powered regions. Highly supersonic turbulence and high cosmic ray (CR) energy densities rather than far-UV/optical photons or SNR-induced shocks from individual SF sites can globally warm the large amounts of dense gas found in these merger-driven starbursts and easily power their extraordinary CO line excitation...
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1109.4176