Bibcode
Mok, A.; Wilson, C. D.; Golding, J.; Warren, B. E.; Israel, F. P.; Serjeant, S.; Knapen, J. H.; Sánchez-Gallego, J. R.; Barmby, P.; Bendo, G. J.; Rosolowsky, E.; van der Werf, P.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 456, Issue 4, p.4384-4406
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3
2016
Citations
38
Refereed citations
36
Description
We present a study of the molecular gas properties in a sample of 98 H I
- flux selected spiral galaxies within ˜25 Mpc, using the CO J = 3
- 2 line observed with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We use the
technique of survival analysis to incorporate galaxies with CO upper
limits into our results. Comparing the group and Virgo samples, we find
a larger mean H2 mass in the Virgo galaxies, despite their
lower mean H I mass. This leads to a significantly higher H2
to H I ratio for Virgo galaxies. Combining our data with complementary
Hα star formation rate measurements, Virgo galaxies have longer
molecular gas depletion times compared to group galaxies, due to their
higher H2 masses and lower star formation rates. We suggest
that the longer depletion times may be a result of heating processes in
the cluster environment or differences in the turbulent pressure. From
the full sample, we find that the molecular gas depletion time has a
positive correlation with the stellar mass, indicative of differences in
the star formation process between low- and high-mass galaxies, and a
negative correlation between the molecular gas depletion time and the
specific star formation rate.