Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Israel, F P
• Rosenberg, M J F
• van der Werf, P

Titel

Neutral carbon and CO in 76 (U)LIRGs and starburst galaxy centers: A method to determine molecular gas properties in luminous galaxies

Ist Teil von

• Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin), 2015-06, Vol.578, p.A95

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In this paper we present fluxes in the [ CI ] lines of neutral carbon at the centers of some 76 galaxies with far-infrared luminosities ranging from 109 to 1012L, as obtained with the Herschel Space Observatory and ground-based facilities, along with the line fluxes of the J = 7-6, J = 4-3, J = 2-112CO, and J = 2-113CO transitions. With this data-set, we determine the behavior of the observed lines with respect to each other and then investigate whether they can be used to characterize the molecular interstellar medium (ISM) of the parent galaxies in simple ways and how the molecular gas properties define the model results. In particular, so-called X([CI]) conversion factors are not superior to X(12CO) factors. The methods and diagnostic diagrams outlined in this paper also provide a new and relatively straightforward means of deriving the physical characteristics of molecular gas in high-redshift galaxies up to z = 5, which are otherwise hard to determine.