@article{01HH4SK60YSECXAWCE1W7DCCCF,
  abstract     = {{We present a new wide-field 10.75 x 10.75 arcmin(2) (approximate to 11 x 11 kpc(2)), high-resolution (theta = 3.6'' approximate to 60 pc) NOEMA CO(1-0) survey of the very nearby (d = 3.45 M-pc) spiral galaxy IC 342. The survey spans out to about 1.5 effective radii and covers most of the region where molecular gas dominates the cold interstellar medium. We resolved the CO emission into > 600 individual giant molecular clouds and associations. We assessed their properties and found that overall the clouds show approximate virial balance, with typical virial parameters of alpha vir = 1 - 2. The typical surface density and line width of molecular gas increase from the inter-arm region to the arm and bar region, and they reach their highest values in the inner kiloparsec of the galaxy (median Sigma(mol) approximate to 80, 140, 160, and 1100 M(circle star)pc-2, sigma(CO) approximate to 1 6.6, 7.6, 9.7, and 18.4 km s-1 for inter-arm, arm, bar, and center clouds, respectively). Clouds in the central part of the galaxy show an enhanced line width relative to their surface densities and evidence of additional sources of dynamical broadening. All of these results agree well with studies of clouds in more distant galaxies at a similar physical resolution. Leveraging our measurements to estimate the density and gravitational free-fall time at 90 pc resolution, averaged on 1.5 kpc hexagonal apertures, we estimate a typical star formation efficiency per free-fall time of 0.45% with a 16 - 84% variation of 0.33 - 0.71% among such 1.5 kpc regions. We speculate that bar-driven gas inflow could explain the large gas concentration in the central kiloparsec and the buildup of the massive nuclear star cluster. This wide-area CO map of the closest face-on massive spiral galaxy demonstrates the current mapping power of NOEMA and has many potential applications. The data and products are publicly available.}},
  articleno    = {{A4}},
  author       = {{Querejeta, Miguel and Pety, Jérôme and Schruba, Andreas and Leroy, Adam K. and Herrera, Cinthya N. and Chiang, I-Da and van der Wel, Sharon Meidt and Rosolowsky, Erik and Schinnerer, Eva and Schuster, Karl and Sun, Jiayi and Herrmann, Kimberly A. and Barnes, Ashley T. and Bešlić, Ivana and Bigiel, Frank and Cao, Yixian and Chevance, Mélanie and Eibensteiner, Cosima and Emsellem, Eric and Faesi, Christopher M. and Hughes, Annie and Kim, Jaeyeon and Klessen, Ralf S. and Kreckel, Kathryn and Diederik Kruijssen, J. M. and Liu, Daizhong and Neumayer, Nadine and Pan, Hsi-An and Saito, Toshiki and Sandstrom, Karin and Teng, Yu-Hsuan and Usero, Antonio and Williams, Thomas G. and Zakardjian, Antoine}},
  issn         = {{0004-6361}},
  journal      = {{ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS}},
  keywords     = {{Space and Planetary Science,Astronomy and Astrophysics,Galaxy: general,Galaxy: disk,Galaxy: center,stars: formation,molecular data,STAR-FORMATION EFFICIENCY,MOLECULAR GAS PROPERTIES,CO-TO-H-2 CONVERSION FACTOR,ENVIRONMENTAL DEPENDENCE,FORMATION RATES,DUST LANES,CLOUD,DISK,CO,CLUSTERS}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{15}},
  title        = {{A sensitive, high-resolution, wide-field IRAM NOEMA CO(1–0) survey of the very nearby spiral galaxy IC 342}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202143023}},
  volume       = {{680}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}

Altmetric

View in Altmetric

Web of Science

Times cited: