No Arabic abstract
Within the framework of the HERM33ES key project, we are studying the star forming interstellar medium in the nearby, metal-poor spiral galaxy M33, exploiting the high resolution and sensitivity of Herschel. We use PACS and SPIRE maps at 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500 micron wavelength, to study the variation of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with galacto-centric distance. Detailed SED modeling is performed using azimuthally averaged fluxes in elliptical rings of 2 kpc width, out to 8 kpc galacto-centric distance. Simple isothermal and two-component grey body models, with fixed dust emissivity index, are fitted to the SEDs between 24 and 500 micron using also MIPS/Spitzer data, to derive first estimates of the dust physical conditions. The far-infrared and submillimeter maps reveal the branched, knotted spiral structure of M33. An underlying diffuse disk is seen in all SPIRE maps (250-500 micron). Two component fits to the SEDs agree better than isothermal models with the observed, total and radially averaged flux densities. The two component model, with beta fixed at 1.5, best fits the global and the radial SEDs. The cold dust component clearly dominates; the relative mass of the warm component is less than 0.3% for all the fits. The temperature of the warm component is not well constrained and is found to be about 60K plus/minus 10K. The temperature of the cold component drops significantly from about 24K in the inner 2 kpc radius to 13K beyond 6 kpc radial distance, for the best fitting model. The gas-to-dust ratio for beta=1.5, averaged over the galaxy, is higher than the solar value by a factor of 1.5 and is roughly in agreement with the subsolar metallicity of M33.
We present an analysis of the first space-based far-IR-submm observations of M 33, which measure the emission from the cool dust and resolve the giant molecular cloud complexes. With roughly half-solar abundances, M33 is a first step towards young low-metallicity galaxies where the submm may be able to provide an alternative to CO mapping to measure their H$_2$ content. In this Letter, we measure the dust emission cross-section $sigma$ using SPIRE and recent CO and HI observations; a variation in $sigma$ is present from a near-solar neighborhood cross-section to about half-solar with the maximum being south of the nucleus. Calculating the total H column density from the measured dust temperature and cross-section, and then subtracting the HI column, yields a morphology similar to that observed in CO. The H$_2$/HI mass ratio decreases from about unity to well below 10% and is about 15% averaged over the optical disk. The single most important observation to reduce the potentially large systematic errors is to complete the CO mapping of M 33.
Context: The emission line of [CII] at 158 micron is one of the strongest cooling lines of the interstellar medium (ISM) in galaxies. Aims: Disentangling the relative contributions of the different ISM phases to [CII] emission, is a major topic of the HerM33es program, a Herschel key project to study the ISM in the nearby spiral galaxy M33. Methods: Using PACS, we have mapped the emission of [CII] 158 micron, [OI] 63 micron, and other FIR lines in a 2x2 region of the northern spiral arm of M33, centered on the HII region BCLMP302. At the peak of H-alpha emission, we have observed in addition a velocity resolved [CII] spectrum using HIFI. We use scatterplots to compare these data with PACS 160 micron continuum maps, and with maps of CO and HI data, at a common resolution of 12 arcsec or 50 pc. Maps of H-alpha and 24 micron emission observed with Spitzer are used to estimate the SFR. We have created maps of the [CII] and [OI] 63 micron emission and detected [NII] 122 micron and NIII 57 micron at individual positions. Results: The [CII] line observed with HIFI is significantly broader than that of CO, and slightly blue-shifted. In addition, there is little spatial correlation between [CII] observed with PACS and CO over the mapped region. There is even less spatial correlation between [CII] and the atomic gas traced by HI. Detailed comparison of the observed intensities towards the HII region with models of photo ionization and photon dominated regions, confirms that a significant fraction, 20--30%, of the observed [CII] emission stems from the ionized gas and not from the molecular cloud. The gas heating efficiency, using the ratio between [CII] and the TIR as a proxy, varies between 0.07 and 1.5%, with the largest variations found outside the HII region.
M33 is a gas rich spiral galaxy of the Local Group. We investigate the relationship between the two major gas cooling lines and the total infrared (TIR) dust continuum. We mapped the emission of gas and dust in M33 using the far-infrared lines of [CII] and [OI](63um) and the TIR. The line maps were observed with Herschel/PACS. These maps have 50pc resolution and form a ~370pc wide stripe along its major axis covering the sites of bright HII regions, but also more quiescent arm and inter-arm regions from the southern arm at 2kpc galacto-centric distance to the south out to 5.7kpc distance to the north. Full-galaxy maps of the continuum emission at 24um from Spitzer/MIPS, and at 70um, 100um, and 160um from PACS were combined to obtain a map of the TIR. TIR and [CII] intensities are correlated over more than two orders of magnitude. The range of TIR translates to a range of far ultraviolet (FUV) emission of G0,obs~2 to 200 in units of the average Galactic radiation field. The binned [CII]/TIR ratio drops with rising TIR, with large, but decreasing scatter. Fits of modified black bodies (MBBs) to the continuum emission were used to estimate dust mass surface densities and total gas column densities. A correction for possible foreground absorption by cold gas was applied to the [OI] data before comparing it with models of photon dominated regions (PDRs). Most of the ratios of [CII]/[OI] and ([CII]+[OI])/TIR are consistent with two model solutions. The median ratios are consistent with one solution at n~2x10^2 cm-3, G0~60, and and a second low-FUV solution at n~10^4 cm-3, G0~1.5. The bulk of the gas along the lines-of-sight is represented by a low-density, high-FUV phase with low beam filling factors ~1. A fraction of the gas may, however, be represented by the second solution.
Within the key project Herschel M33 extended survey (HerM33es), we are studying the physical and chemical processes driving star formation and galactic evolution in the nearby galaxy M33, combining the study of local conditions affecting individual star formation with properties only becoming apparent on global scales. Here, we present recent results obtained by the HerM33es team. Combining Spitzer and Herschel data ranging from 3.6um to 500um, along with HI, Halpha, and GALEX UV data, we have studied the dust at high spatial resolutions of 150pc, providing estimators of the total infrared (TIR) brightness and of the star formation rate. While the temperature of the warm dust at high brightness is driven by young massive stars, evolved stellar populations appear to drive the temperature of the cold dust. Plane-parallel models of photon dominated regions (PDRs) fail to reproduce fully the [CII], [OI], and CO maps obtained in a first spectroscopic study of one 2x2 subregion of M33, located on the inner, northern spiral arm and encompassing the HII region BCLMP302.
Power spectra of de-projected images of late-type galaxies in gas and/or dust emission are very useful diagnostics of the dynamics and stability of their interstellar medium. Previous studies have shown that the power spectra can be approximated as two power-laws, a shallow one at large scales (larger than 500 pc) and a steeper one at small scales, with the break between the two corresponding to the line-of-sight thickness of the galaxy disk. We present a thorough analysis of the power spectra of the dust and gas emission at several wavelengths in the nearby galaxy M33. In particular, we use the recently obtained images at five wavelengths by PACS and SPIRE onboard Herschel. The large dynamical range (2-3 dex in scale) of most images allow us to determine clearly the change in slopes from -1.5 to -4, with some variations with wavelength. The break scale is increasing with wavelength, from 100 pc at 24 and 100micron to 350 pc at 500micron, suggesting that the cool dust lies in a thicker disk than the warm dust, may be due to star formation more confined to the plane. The slope at small scale tends to be steeper at longer wavelength, meaning that the warmer dust is more concentrated in clumps. Numerical simulations of an isolated late-type galaxy, rich in gas and with no bulge, like M33, are carried out, in order to better interpret these observed results. Varying the star formation and feedback parameters, it is possible to obtain a range of power-spectra, with two power-law slopes and breaks, which nicely bracket the data. The small-scale power-law is indeed reflecting the 3D behaviour of the gas layer, steepening strongly while the feedback smoothes the structures, by increasing the gas turbulence. M33 appears to correspond to a fiducial model with an SFR of $sim$ 0.7 Mo/yr, with 10% supernovae energy coupled to the gas kinematics.