| Issue |
EAS Publications Series
Volume 31, 2008
Far-Infrared Workshop 2007
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 89 - 92 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/eas:0831018 | |
| Published online | 04 October 2008 | |
Far-Infrared Workshop 2007
C. Kramer, S. Aalto and R. Simon (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 31 (2008) 89-92
C. Kramer, S. Aalto and R. Simon (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 31 (2008) 89-92
Molecular gas in spiral galaxy centers
Sterrewacht Leiden, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Multiline 12CO and 13CO measurements of a large sample of galaxy centers reveal the physical conditions of the pronounced central molecular gas concentrations in spiral galaxies. The molecular gas occurs in at least two components: hot and relatively tenuous, dense and relatively cool. Most of the gas mass is in the former component. Molecular gas is strongly concentrated within in a few hundred parsec from the nucleus, but the central few dozen parsecs are frequently gas-poor. The CO-to-H2 conversion factor is three to ten times lower in galaxy centers than in the Milky Way disk.
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2008