The ALMaQUEST Survey X: what powers merger induced star formation?-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

The ALMaQUEST Survey X: what powers merger induced star formation?

Published:2022-08-16 Issue:1 Volume:516 Page:1462-1480
ISSN:0035-8711
Container-title:Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
language:en
Short-container-title:

Author:

Thorp Mallory D¹^ORCID,Ellison Sara L¹^ORCID,Pan Hsi-An²^ORCID,Lin Lihwai³^ORCID,Patton David R⁴^ORCID,Bluck Asa F L⁵⁶^ORCID,Walters Dan¹^ORCID,Scudder Jillian M⁷^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria , Finnerty Road, Victoria, British Columbia V8P 1A1, Canada

2. Department of Physics, Tamkang University , Tamsui Dist., New Taipei City 251301, Taiwan

3. Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , Academia Sinica, Taipei 10617, Taiwan

4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Trent University , 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2, Canada

5. Department of Physics, Florida International University , 11200 SW St., Miami, Fl 33199, USA

6. Hughes Hall College, University of Cambridge , Wollaston Road, Cambridge CB1 2EW, UK

7. Department of Physics and Astronomy , Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH 44074, USA

Abstract

ABSTRACT Galaxy mergers are known to trigger both extended and central star formation. However, what remains to be understood is whether this triggered star formation is facilitated by enhanced star formation efficiencies (SFEs), or an abundance of molecular gas fuel. This work presents spatially resolved measurements of CO emission collected with the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) for 20 merging galaxies (either pairs or post-mergers) selected from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey. Eleven additional merging galaxies are selected from the ALMA MaNGA QUEnching and STar formation (ALMaQUEST) survey, resulting in a set of 31 mergers at various stages of interaction and covering a broad range of star formation rates (SFRs). We investigate galaxy-to-galaxy variations in the resolved Kennicutt–Schmidt relation, (rKS: $\Sigma _{\textrm {H}_2}$ versus ΣSFR), the resolved molecular gas main sequence (rMGMS: Σ⋆ versus $\Sigma _{\textrm {H}_2}$), and the resolved star-forming main sequence (rSFMS: Σ⋆ versus ΣSFR). We quantify offsets from these resolved relations to determine if SFR, molecular gas fraction, or/and SFE is/are enhanced in different regions of an individual galaxy. By comparing offsets in all three parameters, we can discern whether gas fraction or SFE powers an enhanced ΣSFR. We find that merger-induced star formation can be driven by a variety of mechanisms, both within a galaxy and between different mergers, regardless of interaction stage.

Funder

NSERC

Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan

ADS

ESO

National Science Foundation

NINS

NRC

MOST

KASI

NAOJ

Associated Universities, Inc.