Using mid-infrared (MIR) images of four photometric bands of the Infrared Camera (IRC) onboard the AKARI satellite, S7 (7 um), S11 (11 um), L15 (15 um), and L24 (24 um), we investigate the interstellar dust properties of the nearby pair of galaxies M
51 with respect to its spiral arm structure. The arm and interarm regions being defined based on a spatially filtered stellar component model image, we measure the arm-to-interarm contrast for each band. The contrast is lowest in the S11 image, which is interpreted as that among the four AKARI MIR bands the S11 image best correlates with the spatial distribution of dust grains including colder components, while the L24 image with the highest contrast traces warmer dust heated by star forming activities. The surface brightness ratio between the bands, i.e. color, is measured over the disk of the main galaxy, M51a, at 300 pc resolution. We find that the distribution of S7/S11 is smooth and well traces the global spiral arm pattern while L15/S11 and L24/S11 peak at individual HII regions. This result indicates that the ionization state of PAHs is related to the spiral structure. Comparison with observational data and dust models also supports the importance of the variation in the PAH ionization state within the M51a disk. However, the mechanism driving this variation is not yet clear from currently available data sets. Another suggestion from the comparison with the models is that the PAH fraction to the total dust mass is higher than previously estimated.
We present sensitive and high angular resolution CO(1-0) data obtained by the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) observations toward the nearby grand-design spiral galaxy M 51. The angular resolution of 0.7 corresponds t
o 30 pc, which is similar to the typical size of Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs), and the sensitivity is also high enough to detect typical GMCs. Within the 1 field of view centered on a spiral arm, a number of GMC-scale structures are detected as clumps. However, only a few clumps are found to be associated with each Giant Molecular Association (GMA), and more than 90% of the total flux is resolved out in our data. Considering the high sensitivity and resolution of our data, these results indicate that GMAs are not mere confusion of GMCs but plausibly smooth structures. In addition, we have found that the most massive clumps are located downstream of the spiral arm, which suggests that they are at a later stage of molecular cloud evolution across the arm and plausibly are cores of GMAs. By comparing with H-alpha and Pa-alpha images, most of these cores are found to have nearby star forming regions. We thus propose an evolutionary scenario for the interstellar medium, in which smaller molecular clouds collide to form smooth GMAs at spiral arm regions and then star formation is triggered in the GMA cores. Our new CO data have revealed the internal structure of GMAs at GMC scales, finding the most massive substructures on the downstream side of the arm in close association with the brightest H II regions.
We present a revised method for simultaneous determination of the pattern speed and star formation timescale of spiral galaxies, its application, and results for CO and Ha images of nearby spiral galaxies. Out of 13 galaxies, we were able to derive t
he 2 parameters for 5 galaxies. We categorize them as C galaxies, and find (1) The corotation radius is close to the edge of the CO data, and is about half of the optical radius for 3 galaxies. (2) The star formation timescale is roughly consistent with the free-fall time of typical molecular clouds, which indicates that the gravitational instability is the dominant mechanism triggering star formation in spiral arms. (3) The timescale is found to be almost independent of surface density of molecular gas, metallicity, or spiral arm strengths. The number of C galaxies and the quality of CO data, however, are not enough to confirm these relationships. We also find that 2 other galaxies show no offsets between CO and Ha, although their arms are clearly traced, and categorize them as N galaxies. The presence of a bar could account for this feature, since these 2 galaxies are both barred. With one galaxy excluded from our analysis due to its poor rotation curve, offsets of the remaining 5 galaxies are found to be ambiguous. We categorize them as A galaxies. The possible reasons for this ambiguity are (1) the density wave is weaker, and/or (2) observational resolution and sensitivity are not enough to detect the spiral arms and their offsets clearly. The former is supported by our finding that the arm strengths of A galaxies are slightly weaker than that of C galaxies. [abridged]
