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Abstract
We measure empirical relationships between the local star formation rate (SFR) and properties of the star-forming molecular gas on 1.5 kpc scales across 80 nearby galaxies. These relationships, commonly referred to as "star formation laws," aim at predicting the local SFR surface density from various combinations of molecular gas surface density, galactic orbital time, molecular cloud free fall time, and the interstellar medium dynamical equilibrium pressure. Leveraging a multiwavelength database built for the Physics at High Angular Resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) survey, we measure these quantities consistently across all galaxies and quantify systematic uncertainties stemming from choices of SFR calibrations and the CO-to-H-2 conversion factors. The star formation laws we examine show 0.3-0.4 dex of intrinsic scatter, among which the molecular Kennicutt-Schmidt relation shows a similar to 10% larger scatter than the other three. The slope of this relation ranges beta approximate to 0.9-1.2, implying that the molecular gas depletion time remains roughly constant across the environments probed in our sample. The other relations have shallower slopes (beta approximate to 0.6-1.0), suggesting that the star formation efficiency per orbital time, the star formation efficiency per free fall time, and the pressure-to-SFR surface density ratio (i.e., the feedback yield) vary systematically with local molecular gas and SFR surface densities. Last but not least, the shapes of the star formation laws depend sensitively on methodological choices. Different choices of SFR calibrations can introduce systematic uncertainties of at least 10%-15% in the star formation law slopes and 0.15-0.25 dex in their normalization, while the CO-to-H-2 conversion factors can additionally produce uncertainties of 20%-25% for the slope and 0.10-0.20 dex for the normalization.
Keywords
Space and Planetary Science, Astronomy and Astrophysics, MULTIPHASE GALACTIC DISKS, MOLECULAR GAS PROPERTIES, FORMATION RATES, SELF-REGULATION, DEPLETION TIME, SCHMIDT LAW, LINE RATIO, MILKY-WAY, FEEDBACK, CLOUDS

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MLA
Sun, Jiayi, et al. “Star Formation Laws and Efficiencies across 80 Nearby Galaxies.” ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS, vol. 945, no. 2, 2023, doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acbd9c.
APA
Sun, J., Leroy, A. K., Ostriker, E. C., van der Wel, S. M., Rosolowsky, E., Schinnerer, E., … Thilker, D. A. (2023). Star formation laws and efficiencies across 80 nearby galaxies. ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS, 945(2). https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acbd9c
Chicago author-date
Sun, Jiayi, Adam K. Leroy, Eve C. Ostriker, Sharon Meidt van der Wel, Erik Rosolowsky, Eva Schinnerer, Christine D. Wilson, et al. 2023. “Star Formation Laws and Efficiencies across 80 Nearby Galaxies.” ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS 945 (2). https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acbd9c.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Sun, Jiayi, Adam K. Leroy, Eve C. Ostriker, Sharon Meidt van der Wel, Erik Rosolowsky, Eva Schinnerer, Christine D. Wilson, Dyas Utomo, Francesco Belfiore, Guillermo A. Blanc, Eric Emsellem, Christopher Faesi, Brent Groves, Annie Hughes, Eric W. Koch, Kathryn Kreckel, Daizhong Liu, Hsi-An Pan, Jérôme Pety, Miguel Querejeta, Alessandro Razza, Toshiki Saito, Amy Sardone, Antonio Usero, Thomas G. Williams, Frank Bigiel, Alberto D. Bolatto, Mélanie Chevance, Daniel A. Dale, Jindra Gensior, Simon C. O. Glover, Kathryn Grasha, Jonathan D. Henshaw, María J. Jiménez-Donaire, Ralf S. Klessen, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Eric J. Murphy, Lukas Neumann, Yu-Hsuan Teng, and David A. Thilker. 2023. “Star Formation Laws and Efficiencies across 80 Nearby Galaxies.” ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS 945 (2). doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acbd9c.
Vancouver
1.
Sun J, Leroy AK, Ostriker EC, van der Wel SM, Rosolowsky E, Schinnerer E, et al. Star formation laws and efficiencies across 80 nearby galaxies. ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS. 2023;945(2).
IEEE
[1]
J. Sun et al., “Star formation laws and efficiencies across 80 nearby galaxies,” ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS, vol. 945, no. 2, 2023.
@article{01HH4R9XGVMG0T6X7Q98SEYM3K,
  abstract     = {{We measure empirical relationships between the local star formation rate (SFR) and properties of the star-forming molecular gas on 1.5 kpc scales across 80 nearby galaxies. These relationships, commonly referred to as "star formation laws," aim at predicting the local SFR surface density from various combinations of molecular gas surface density, galactic orbital time, molecular cloud free fall time, and the interstellar medium dynamical equilibrium pressure. Leveraging a multiwavelength database built for the Physics at High Angular Resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) survey, we measure these quantities consistently across all galaxies and quantify systematic uncertainties stemming from choices of SFR calibrations and the CO-to-H-2 conversion factors. The star formation laws we examine show 0.3-0.4 dex of intrinsic scatter, among which the molecular Kennicutt-Schmidt relation shows a similar to 10% larger scatter than the other three. The slope of this relation ranges beta approximate to 0.9-1.2, implying that the molecular gas depletion time remains roughly constant across the environments probed in our sample. The other relations have shallower slopes (beta approximate to 0.6-1.0), suggesting that the star formation efficiency per orbital time, the star formation efficiency per free fall time, and the pressure-to-SFR surface density ratio (i.e., the feedback yield) vary systematically with local molecular gas and SFR surface densities. Last but not least, the shapes of the star formation laws depend sensitively on methodological choices. Different choices of SFR calibrations can introduce systematic uncertainties of at least 10%-15% in the star formation law slopes and 0.15-0.25 dex in their normalization, while the CO-to-H-2 conversion factors can additionally produce uncertainties of 20%-25% for the slope and 0.10-0.20 dex for the normalization.}},
  articleno    = {{L19}},
  author       = {{Sun, Jiayi and Leroy, Adam K. and Ostriker, Eve C. and van der Wel, Sharon Meidt and Rosolowsky, Erik and Schinnerer, Eva and Wilson, Christine D. and Utomo, Dyas and Belfiore, Francesco and Blanc, Guillermo A. and Emsellem, Eric and Faesi, Christopher and Groves, Brent and Hughes, Annie and Koch, Eric W. and Kreckel, Kathryn and Liu, Daizhong and Pan, Hsi-An and Pety, Jérôme and Querejeta, Miguel and Razza, Alessandro and Saito, Toshiki and Sardone, Amy and Usero, Antonio and Williams, Thomas G. and Bigiel, Frank and Bolatto, Alberto D. and Chevance, Mélanie and Dale, Daniel A. and Gensior, Jindra and Glover, Simon C. O. and Grasha, Kathryn and Henshaw, Jonathan D. and Jiménez-Donaire, María J. and Klessen, Ralf S. and Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik and Murphy, Eric J. and Neumann, Lukas and Teng, Yu-Hsuan and Thilker, David A.}},
  issn         = {{2041-8205}},
  journal      = {{ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS}},
  keywords     = {{Space and Planetary Science,Astronomy and Astrophysics,MULTIPHASE GALACTIC DISKS,MOLECULAR GAS PROPERTIES,FORMATION RATES,SELF-REGULATION,DEPLETION TIME,SCHMIDT LAW,LINE RATIO,MILKY-WAY,FEEDBACK,CLOUDS}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{1}},
  title        = {{Star formation laws and efficiencies across 80 nearby galaxies}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acbd9c}},
  volume       = {{945}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}

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