The Effect of Galaxy Interactions on Molecular Gas Properties

Galaxy interactions are often accompanied by an enhanced star formation rate (SFR). Since molecular gas is essential for star formation, it is vital to establish whether and by how much galaxy interactions affect the molecular gas properties. We investigate the effect of interactions on global molec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Astrophysical journal 2018-12, Vol.868 (2), p.132
Main Authors:	Pan, Hsi-An, Lin, Lihwai, Hsieh, Bau-Ching, Xiao, Ting, Gao, Yang, Ellison, Sara L., Scudder, Jillian M., Barrera-Ballesteros, Jorge, Yuan, Fangting, Saintonge, Amélie, Wilson, Christine D., Hwang, Ho Seong, De Looze, Ilse, Gao, Yu, Ho, Luis C., Brinks, Elias, Mok, Angus, Brown, Toby, Davis, Timothy A., Williams, Thomas G., Chung, Aeree, Parsons, Harriet, Bureau, Martin, Sargent, Mark T., Chung, Eun Jung, Kim, Eunbin, Liu, Tie, Micha owski, Micha J., Tosaki, Tomoka
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Astrophysics Configurations Galaxies galaxies: interactions galaxies: ISM galaxies: star formation ISM: molecules Molecular gases Properties (attributes) Red shift Separation Star & galaxy formation Star formation Star formation rate Stars & galaxies Stellar mass Telescopes Time dependence
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Summary:	Galaxy interactions are often accompanied by an enhanced star formation rate (SFR). Since molecular gas is essential for star formation, it is vital to establish whether and by how much galaxy interactions affect the molecular gas properties. We investigate the effect of interactions on global molecular gas properties by studying a sample of 58 galaxies in pairs and 154 control galaxies. Molecular gas properties are determined from observations with the JCMT, PMO, and CSO telescopes and supplemented with data from the xCOLD GASS and JINGLE surveys at 12CO(1-0) and 12CO(2-1). The SFR, gas mass ( ), and gas fraction (fgas) are all enhanced in galaxies in pairs by ∼2.5 times compared to the controls matched in redshift, mass, and effective radius, while the enhancement of star formation efficiency (SFE SFR/ ) is less than a factor of 2. We also find that the enhancements in SFR, and fgas, increase with decreasing pair separation and are larger in systems with smaller stellar mass ratio. Conversely, the SFE is only enhanced in close pairs (separation
ISSN:	0004-637X 1538-4357