Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published August 2012 | Published
Book Section - Chapter Open

Resolved Kennicutt-Schmidt Law in Nearby Galaxies

Abstract

The Kennicutt-Schmidt law (Schmidt 1959; Kennicutt 1998, hereafter K-S law) is a power law correlation between area averaged star formation rate (Σ_(SFR)) and gas surface density (Σ_(gas)). Despite its importance, the physics that underlie this correlation has remained unclear. The power law index, N, is a prime discriminator of the mechanisms that regulate star formation and form the K-S law (e.g. Leroy et al. 2008; Tan 2010). We present a study of the resolved K-S law for 10 nearby disk galaxies using our new CO(1-0) data at 750 and 500 pc resolutions. The CO(1-0) line emission is established as a tracer of the molecular gas column density, and results in a super-linear correlation (N = 1.3 and 1.8). We discuss the cause of the discrepancy between previous studies, and the mechanism of star formation indicated from our new results.

Additional Information

© 2013 International Astronomical Union.

Attached Files

Published - resolved_kennicuttschmidt_law_in_nearby_galaxies.pdf

Files

resolved_kennicuttschmidt_law_in_nearby_galaxies.pdf
Files (63.0 kB)

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
January 14, 2024