Structural and Dynamical Analysis of the Quiescent Molecular Ridge in the Large Magellanic Cloud. (arXiv:2206.11242v1 [astro-ph.GA])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Finn_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Molly K. Finn</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Indebetouw_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Remy Indebetouw</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Johnson_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">Kelsey E. Johnson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Costa_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Allison H. Costa</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Chen_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">C.-H. Rosie Chen</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kawamura_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Akiko Kawamura</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Onishi_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Toshikazu Onishi</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ott_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jürgen Ott</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Sewilo_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Marta Sewiło</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Tokuda_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">Kazuki Tokuda</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Wong_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Tony Wong</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zahorecz_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Sarolta Zahorecz</a>
We present a comparison of low-J 13CO and CS observations of four different
regions in the LMC — the quiescent Molecular Ridge, 30 Doradus, N159, and
N113, all at a resolution of $sim3$ pc. The regions 30 Dor, N159, and N113 are
actively forming massive stars, while the Molecular Ridge is forming almost no
massive stars, despite its large reservoir of molecular gas and proximity to
N159 and 30 Dor. We segment the emission from each region into hierarchical
structures using dendrograms and analyze the sizes, masses, and linewidths of
these structures. We find that the Ridge has significantly lower kinetic energy
at a given size scale and also lower surface densities than the other regions,
resulting in higher virial parameters. This suggests that the Ridge is not
forming massive stars as actively as the other regions because it has less
dense gas and not because collapse is suppressed by excess kinetic energy. We
also find that these physical conditions and energy balance vary significantly
within the Ridge and that this variation appears only weakly correlated with
distance from sites of massive star formation such as R136 in 30 Dor, which is
$sim1$ kpc away. These variations also show only a weak correlation with local
star formation activity within the clouds.
We present a comparison of low-J 13CO and CS observations of four different
regions in the LMC — the quiescent Molecular Ridge, 30 Doradus, N159, and
N113, all at a resolution of $sim3$ pc. The regions 30 Dor, N159, and N113 are
actively forming massive stars, while the Molecular Ridge is forming almost no
massive stars, despite its large reservoir of molecular gas and proximity to
N159 and 30 Dor. We segment the emission from each region into hierarchical
structures using dendrograms and analyze the sizes, masses, and linewidths of
these structures. We find that the Ridge has significantly lower kinetic energy
at a given size scale and also lower surface densities than the other regions,
resulting in higher virial parameters. This suggests that the Ridge is not
forming massive stars as actively as the other regions because it has less
dense gas and not because collapse is suppressed by excess kinetic energy. We
also find that these physical conditions and energy balance vary significantly
within the Ridge and that this variation appears only weakly correlated with
distance from sites of massive star formation such as R136 in 30 Dor, which is
$sim1$ kpc away. These variations also show only a weak correlation with local
star formation activity within the clouds.
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