1. Variation in X CO Factor in N55 Region.
- Author
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Li, Qiang, Li, Mingyue, Zhang, Li, and Pei, Songpeng
- Subjects
- *
STAR formation , *INTERSTELLAR medium , *MAGELLANIC clouds , *PROTHROMBIN - Abstract
The X C O factor is defined as X C O = N (H 2) / W 12 C O . It is useful for estimating cloud mass. However, there is only limited research on how the X C O factor varies within a single cloud. Employing 12 C O (J = 1-0) and 13 C O (J = 1-0) spectral data, we computed an X C O factor of 3.6 × 10 20 cm − 2 (K km s−1)−1 for luminous gas of the N55 region. Our analysis revealed a V-shaped correlation between the X C O factor and H 2 column densities, while the relationship with excitation temperature exhibited obscurity. This suggests that the CO-to- H 2 conversion is not consistent on small scale (∼1 pc). Additionally, we found that star formation activity has little influence on the variability in the X C O factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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