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Oscar Agertz. Profile photo.

Oscar Agertz

Associate Professor / Senior university lecturer / Wallenberg Academy Fellow

Oscar Agertz. Profile photo.

Physical properties and scaling relations of molecular clouds : The effect of stellar feedback

Author

  • Kearn Grisdale
  • Oscar Agertz
  • Florent Renaud
  • Alessandro B. Romeo

Summary, in English

Using hydrodynamical simulations of entire galactic discs similar to the Milky Way (MW), reaching 4.6 pc resolution, we study the origins of observed physical properties of giant molecular clouds (GMCs). We find that efficient stellar feedback is a necessary ingredient in order to develop a realistic interstellar medium, leading to molecular cloud masses, sizes, velocity dispersions, and virial parameters in excellent agreement withMWobservations. GMCscaling relations observed in the MW, such as the mass-size (M-R), velocity dispersion-size (σ-R), and the σ-RΣ relations, are reproduced in a feedback-driven ISM when observed in projection, with M∝R2.3 and σ∝R0.56.When analysed in 3D, GMC scaling relations steepen significantly, indicating potential limitations of our understanding of molecular cloud 3D structure from observations. Furthermore, we demonstrate how a GMC population's underlying distribution of virial parameters can strongly influence the scatter in derived scaling relations. Finally, we show that GMCs with nearly identical global properties exist in different evolutionary stages, where a majority of clouds being either gravitationally bound or expanding, but with a significant fraction being compressed by external ISM pressure, at all times.

Department/s

  • Lund Observatory - Has been reorganised

Publishing year

2018-09-21

Language

English

Pages

3167-3180

Publication/Series

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Volume

479

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Topic

  • Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Keywords

  • Galaxies:evolution
  • Galaxies:formation
  • Galaxies:ism
  • Galaxies:structure

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0035-8711