J/ApJ/750/136ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/750/136doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.17500136CDSWei L.H.Keto E.Ho L.C.2014-02-13T18:39:41Z2014-01-28T16:38:36ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frradio-galaxiesmolecular-cloudsgalaxy-kinematicsinterstellar-mediumSuper star clusters--extremely massive clusters found predominately in starburst environments--are essential building blocks in the formation of galaxies and thought to dominate star formation in the high-redshift universe. However, the transformation from molecular gas into these ultracompact star clusters is not well understood. To study this process, we used the Submillimeter Array and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer to obtain high angular resolution (~1.5" or 160pc) images of the Antennae overlap region in CO(2-1) to search for the molecular progenitors of the super star clusters. We resolve the molecular gas distribution into a large number of clouds, extending the differential cloud mass function down to a 5{sigma} completeness limit of 3.8x10^5^M_{sun}_. We identify a distinct break in the mass function around log M_mol_/M_{sun}_{approx}6.5, which separates the molecular clouds into two distinct populations. The smaller, less massive clouds reside in more quiescent areas in the region, while the larger, more massive clouds cluster around regions of intense star formation. A broken power-law fit to the mass function yields slopes of {alpha}=-1.39+/-0.10 and {alpha}=-1.44+/-0.14 for the low- and high-mass cloud population, well matched to the mass function found for super star clusters in the Antennae galaxies. We find large velocity gradients and velocity dispersions at the locations of intense star formation, suggestive of compressive shocks. It is likely that these environmental factors contribute to the formation of the observed massive molecular clouds and super star clusters in the Antennae galaxies.2012ApJ...750..136Whttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/750/136CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic serviceIsServedByConesearch servicerelated-toJ/AJ/140/75 : Antennae galaxies (NGC 4038/4039) revisited (Whitmore+, 2010)J/ApJ/686/948 : CO in extragalactic giant molecular clouds (Bolatto+, 2008)J/ApJS/166/211 : Chandra sources in Antennae galaxies (Zezas+, 2006)J/A+A/443/41 : NGC 4038/4039 broad and narrow band photometry (Mengel+, 2005)J/ApJ/635/280 : Star clusters in the Antennae galaxies (Brandl+, 2005)J/AJ/127/660 : Photometry in southern tail of the Antennae (Saviane+, 2004)J/ApJ/599/1049 : Supergiant molecular complexes in the Antennae (Wilson+, 2003)J/ApJ/561/727 : BVI photometry in the Antennae galaxies (Zhang+, 2001)J/AJ/109/960 : Young star clusters in The Antennae (Whitmore+ 1995)J/ApJ/428/693 : Rosette Nebula and Maddalena Cloud structures (Williams+ 1994)https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/750/136https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/750/136http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/750/136https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/750/136https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/750/136http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/750/136GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapCone search capability for table J/ApJ/750/136/table2 (Cloud catalog (basic properties from clumpfind))https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/750/136/table2?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/750/136/table2?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/750/136/table2?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true180.47175-18.88597220.0055555555555555566/25344https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/moc/J/ApJ/750/136?format=asciiRadiodefaultJ/ApJ/750/136/table2Cloud catalog (basic properties from clumpfind)l_logMvirLimit flag on logMvirmeta.code.errorcharl_RadLimit flag on Rad (1)meta.code.errorcharrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintSeq[1/132] Running sequence numbermeta.id;meta.mainintRAJ2000[12] Hour of right ascension (J2000)pos.eq.ra;meta.mainDEJ2000[18] Degree of declination (J2000)pos.eq.dec;meta.mainVrad[1328/1787] Velocity (V_rad_)km/sphys.veloc;pos.heliocentricfloatRad[35/317] Radius in parsecspcphys.size.radiusintl_sigmaLimit flag on sigma (1)meta.code.errorcharsigma[0.8/26] Velocity dispersion ({sigma}_V_)km/sphys.veloc.dispersionfloatlogMmol[4.9/8.4] Log of total molecular gas masslog(solMass)phys.massfloatlogMvir[4.5/8.1] Log of virial masslog(solMass)phys.massfloat