Atmospheric Pressure and Molecular Cloud Formation in Early-type Galaxies

Iu. V. Babyk; B. R. McNamara; P. E. J. Nulsen; H. R. Russell; A. C. Edge; Leo Blitz

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acb53f

The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2023)

Atmospheric Pressure and Molecular Cloud Formation in Early-type Galaxies

Iu. V. Babyk,
B. R. McNamara,
P. E. J. Nulsen,
H. R. Russell,
A. C. Edge,
Leo Blitz

Affiliations

Iu. V. Babyk: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Irvine , 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA ; [email protected]; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo , 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine , 27 Zabolotnoho str., 03143, Kyiv, Ukraine
B. R. McNamara: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo , 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics , Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5, Canada
P. E. J. Nulsen: ORCiD; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; ICRAR, University of Western Australia , 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
H. R. Russell: Institute of Astronomy , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
A. C. Edge: ORCiD; Department of Physics, University of Durham , South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
Leo Blitz: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, University of California , Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acb53f
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 944, no. 1
p. 69

Abstract

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A strong correlation between atmospheric pressure and molecular gas mass is found in central cluster galaxies and early-type galaxies. This trend and a similar trend with atmospheric gas density would naturally arise if the molecular clouds condensed from hot atmospheres. Limits on the ratio of molecular to atomic hydrogen in these systems exceed unity. The data are consistent with ambient pressure being a significant factor in the rapid conversion of atomic hydrogen into molecules as found in normal spiral galaxies.

Published in The Astrophysical Journal

ISSN: 1538-4357 (Online)
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy: Astrophysics
Website: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X

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