The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)
PHANGS–JWST First Results: Interstellar Medium Structure on the Turbulent Jeans Scale in Four Disk Galaxies Observed by JWST and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
- Sharon E. Meidt,
- Erik Rosolowsky,
- Jiayi Sun,
- Eric W. Koch,
- Ralf S. Klessen,
- Adam K. Leroy,
- Eva Schinnerer,
- Ashley. T. Barnes,
- Simon C. O. Glover,
- Janice C. Lee,
- Arjen van der Wel,
- Elizabeth J. Watkins,
- Thomas G. Williams,
- F. Bigiel,
- Médéric Boquien,
- Guillermo A. Blanc,
- Yixian Cao,
- Mélanie Chevance,
- Daniel A. Dale,
- Oleg V. Egorov,
- Eric Emsellem,
- Kathryn Grasha,
- Jonathan D. Henshaw,
- J. M. Diederik Kruijssen,
- Kirsten L. Larson,
- Daizhong Liu,
- Eric J. Murphy,
- Jérôme Pety,
- Miguel Querejeta,
- Toshiki Saito,
- Karin M. Sandstrom,
- Rowan J. Smith,
- Mattia C. Sormani,
- David A. Thilker
Affiliations
- Sharon E. Meidt
- ORCiD
- Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent , Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
- Erik Rosolowsky
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Alberta , Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E1, Canada
- Jiayi Sun
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University , 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4M1, Canada; Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), University of Toronto , 60 St George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H8, Canada
- Eric W. Koch
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics–Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Ralf S. Klessen
- ORCiD
- Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Universität Heidelberg , Albert-Ueberle-Straße 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen, Universität Heidelberg , Im Neuenheimer Feld 205, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Adam K. Leroy
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University , 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Eva Schinnerer
- ORCiD
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
- Ashley. T. Barnes
- ORCiD
- Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn , Auf dem Hügel 71, D-53121, Bonn, Germany
- Simon C. O. Glover
- ORCiD
- Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Universität Heidelberg , Albert-Ueberle-Straße 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Janice C. Lee
- ORCiD
- Gemini Observatory/NSF's NOIRLab , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85726, USA; Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N Cherry Ave,Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Arjen van der Wel
- ORCiD
- Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent , Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
- Elizabeth J. Watkins
- ORCiD
- Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , Mönchhofstraße 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Thomas G. Williams
- ORCiD
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
- F. Bigiel
- ORCiD
- Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn , Auf dem Hügel 71, D-53121, Bonn, Germany
- Médéric Boquien
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astronomía (CITEVA), Universidad de Antofagasta , Avenida Angamos 601, Antofagasta, Chile
- Guillermo A. Blanc
- ORCiD
- The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science , 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena, CA 91101, USA; Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile , Camino del Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
- Yixian Cao
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) , Giessenbachstr. 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany
- Mélanie Chevance
- ORCiD
- Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Universität Heidelberg , Albert-Ueberle-Straße 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Cosmic Origins Of Life (COOL) Research DAO , coolresearch.io
- Daniel A. Dale
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming , Laramie, WY 82071, USA
- Oleg V. Egorov
- ORCiD
- Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , Mönchhofstraße 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Lomonosov Moscow State University , Universitetsky pr. 13, 119234 Moscow, Russia
- Eric Emsellem
- ORCiD
- European Southern Observatory , Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Univ Lyon , Univ Lyon1, ENS de Lyon, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon UMR5574, F-69230 Saint-Genis-Laval, France
- Kathryn Grasha
- ORCiD
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT 2611, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Jonathan D. Henshaw
- ORCiD
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany; Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University , 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L3 5RF, UK
- J. M. Diederik Kruijssen
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Origins Of Life (COOL) Research DAO , coolresearch.io
- Kirsten L. Larson
- ORCiD
- AURA for the European Space Agency (ESA), Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Daizhong Liu
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) , Giessenbachstr. 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany
- Eric J. Murphy
- ORCiD
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
- Jérôme Pety
- ORCiD
- IRAM , 300 rue de la Piscine, F-38400 Saint Martin d’Hères, France; LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University , CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, F-75014 Paris, France
- Miguel Querejeta
- ORCiD
- Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (IGN) , C/Alfonso XII, 3, E-28014 Madrid, Spain
- Toshiki Saito
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588, Japan
- Karin M. Sandstrom
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego , 9500 Gilman Drive, San Diego, CA 92093, USA
- Rowan J. Smith
- ORCiD
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
- Mattia C. Sormani
- ORCiD
- Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Universität Heidelberg , Albert-Ueberle-Straße 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- David A. Thilker
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acaaa8
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 944,
no. 2
p. L18
Abstract
JWST/Mid-Infrared Instrument imaging of the nearby galaxies IC 5332, NGC 628, NGC 1365, and NGC 7496 from PHANGS reveals a richness of gas structures that in each case form a quasi-regular network of interconnected filaments, shells, and voids. We examine whether this multiscale network of structure is consistent with the fragmentation of the gas disk through gravitational instability. We use FilFinder to detect the web of filamentary features in each galaxy and determine their characteristic radial and azimuthal spacings. These spacings are then compared to estimates of the most Toomre-unstable length (a few kiloparsecs), the turbulent Jeans length (a few hundred parsecs), and the disk scale height (tens of parsecs) reconstructed using PHANGS–Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the molecular gas as a dynamical tracer. Our analysis of the four galaxies targeted in this work indicates that Jeans-scale structure is pervasive. Future work will be essential for determining how the structure observed in gas disks impacts not only the rate and location of star formation but also how stellar feedback interacts positively or negatively with the surrounding multiphase gas reservoir.
Keywords
