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arXiv 0811.0004astro-ph
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星系中原子到分子的转变。II:HI和H_2色谱柱密度

The Atomic to Molecular Transition in Galaxies. II: HI and H_2 Column Densities

Mark R. Krumholz, Christopher F. McKee, Jason Tumlinson

摘要:

星系盘中的气体被引力不稳定性聚集成巨大的原子-分子复合体,但只有这些结构的内部分子部分能够坍缩形成恒星。因此,确定复合物中氢原子与氢分子的比例是恒星形成和星系演化中的一个重要问题。本文利用本系列前一篇文章中发展的H_2形成、离解和屏蔽模型,对原子分子比作为星系性质的函数进行了理论预言。我们发现,在一个星系的分子分数主要是由它的柱密度和其次由它的金属丰度,是很好的近似独立的星际辐射场的强度。我们发现,在太阳金属丰度下,保护分子区域不被离解所需的氢原子柱约为10 Msun pc^-2。我们比较我们的模型从最近的调查银河系和附近的星系的数据,并表明,无论是柱密度的主要依赖分子分数和次要依赖金属丰度,我们预测是在良好的协议与观测到的星系属性。

英文摘要:

Gas in galactic disks is collected by gravitational instabilities into giant atomic-molecular complexes, but only the inner, molecular parts of these structures are able to collapse to form stars. Determining what controls the ratio of atomic to molecular hydrogen in complexes is therefore a significant problem in star formation and galactic evolution. In this paper we use the model of H_2 formation, dissociation, and shielding developed in the previous paper in this series to make theoretical predictions for atomic to molecular ratios as a function of galactic properties. We find that the molecular fraction in a galaxy is determined primarily by its column density and secondarily by its metallicity, and is to good approximation independent of the strength of the interstellar radiation field. We show that the column of atomic hydrogen required to shield a molecular region against dissociation is ~10 Msun pc^-2 at solar metallicity. We compare our model to data from recent surveys of the Milky Way and of nearby galaxies, and show that the both the primary dependence of molecular fraction on column density and the secondary dependence on metallicity that we predict are in good agreement with observed galaxy properties.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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