Molecular Superbubbles in nearby galaxies Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Watkins E.J.
  2. Kreckel K.
  3. Groves B.
  4. Glover S.C.O.
  5. Whitmore B.C.,Leroy A.K.
  6. Schinnerer E.
  7. Meidt S.E.
  8. Egorov O.V.
  9. Barnes A.T.
  10. Lee J.C.,Boquien M.
  11. Chandar R.
  12. Chevance M.
  13. Dale D.A.
  14. Grasha K.
  15. Klessen R.S.,Kruijssen J.M.D.
  16. Larson K.L.
  17. Li J.
  18. Mendez-Delgado J.E.
  19. Pessa I.,Saito T.
  20. Sanchez-Blazquez P.
  21. Sarbadhicary S.K.
  22. Scheuermann F.,Thilker D.A.
  23. Williams T.G.
  24. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

Star formation and stellar feedback are interlinked processes that redistribute energy, turbulence, and material throughout galaxies. Because young and massive stars form in spatially clustered environments, they create pockets of expanding gas termed superbubbles, which retain information about the physical processes that drive them. As these processes play a critical role in shaping galaxy discs and regulating the baryon cycle, measuring the properties of superbubbles provides important input for galaxy evolution models. With the wide coverage and high angular resolution (~50-150pc) of the PHANGS-ALMA CO (J=2-1) survey, we can now resolve, identify and characterise a statistically representative number of superbubbles using molecular gas in nearby galaxies. We identify superbubbles by requiring spatial correspondence between shells in CO with stellar populations identified in PHANGS-HST. Then, by combining the properties of the stellar populations with the CO, we quantify the energetics of the stars and constrain feedback models. We visually find 325 cavities across 18 PHANGS--ALMA galaxies, 88 of which have clear superbubble signatures (unbroken shells, central clusters, kinematic signatures of expansion). We measure their radii and expansion velocities using CO (2-1) to dynamically derive their ages and the mechanical power driving the bubbles, which we use to compute the expected properties of the parent stellar populations driving the bubbles. We find consistency between the predicted and derived stellar ages and masses of the stellar populations if we use a supernova (SN) model that injects energy with a coupling efficiency of ~10%. Not only does this confirm that molecular gas accurately traces superbubble properties, but it also provides key observational constraints for superbubble models. We also find evidence that the bubbles are sweeping up gas as they expand, and speculate that these sites have the potential to host new generations of stars. This work demonstrates that molecular superbubbles provide novel quantitative constraints on SNe feedback efficiencies and gas clearing times, and represent a promising environment to search for the propagation of star formation, all of which are needed to understand what sets the observed star formation rates in galaxies.

Keywords
  1. galaxies
  2. molecular-physics
  3. co-line-emission
  4. radio-sources
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2023A&A...676A..67W
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/676/A67
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/676/A67
Document Object Identifer DOI
doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.36760067

Access

Web browser access HTML
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/676/A67
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/676/A67
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/676/A67
IVOA Table Access TAP
http://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/676/A67/table2?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/676/A67/table2?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/676/A67/table2?

History

2023-08-09T09:43:59Z
Resource record created
2023-08-09T09:43:59Z
Created
2023-11-03T13:17:43Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr