Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
addClaim

This Research product is the result of merged Research products in OpenAIRE.

You have already added 0 works in your ORCID record related to the merged Research product.

The Efficiency of Star Formation in Galaxies as a Function of Galaxy Size and Environment

Authors: Young, JS;

The Efficiency of Star Formation in Galaxies as a Function of Galaxy Size and Environment

Abstract

The results of the FCRAO Extragalactic CO Survey are used to examine the trends in the global star formation efficiency among galaxies as a function of galaxy size and environment. For isolated spiral galaxies, Virgo cluster spiral galaxies, pairs, and field spiral galaxies, an intriguing new result indicates that the global star formation efficiency decreases as the galaxy size increases. The galaxies in these diverse environments all exhibit the same trend in that the mean global star formation efficiency is 4 times smaller in galaxies 100 kpc in diameter compared to those only 10 kpc across. This trend may result from a greater shear in the disks of large galaxies, in which flat rotation curves are found, in contrast to the disks of smaller galaxies, in which rotation curves are rising over most of the disk. This shear would be expected to increase the turbulent energy in molecular clouds and to possibly reduce the efficiency of star formation. In sharp contrast to this trend of decreasing star formation efficiency with increasing galaxy size, the galaxies that are independently recognized to be merger remnants all display a completely different behavior in the star formation efficiency variation with galaxy size. At every galaxy size, the merger remnants display the largest star formation efficiencies observed. Furthermore, there appears to be a maximum star formation efficiency that merger remnants can maintain.

Keywords

galaxies : evolution, galaxies : fundamental parameters, galaxies : spiral, galaxies : interactions, galaxies : evolution, galaxies : fundamental parameters, galaxies : interactions, galaxies : ISM, galaxies : spiral,, galaxies : ISM

  • BIP!
    Impact byBIP!
    selected citations
    These citations are derived from selected sources.
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    11
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Average
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
11
Average
Average
Average
Upload OA version
Are you the author of this publication? Upload your Open Access version to Zenodo!
It’s fast and easy, just two clicks!