WISDOM Project - XXI. Giant molecular clouds in the central region of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 613: a steep size-linewidth relation

Woorak Choi, Martin Bureau, Lijie Liu, Michele Cappellari, Timothy A. Davis, Jindra Gensior, Fu Heng Liang, Anan Lu, Sanghyuk Moon, Ilaria Ruffa, Thomas G. Williams, Aeree Chung

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

NGC 613 is a nearby barred spiral galaxy with a nuclear ring. Exploiting high spatial resolution (≈20 pc) Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array 12CO(1-0) observations, we study the giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the nuclear ring and its vicinity, identifying 158 spatially and spectrally resolved GMCs. The GMC sizes (Rc) are comparable to those of the clouds in the Milky Way (MW) disc, but their gas masses, observed linewidths (σobs,los), and gas mass surface densities are larger. The GMC size-linewidth relation () is steeper than that of the clouds of the MW disc and centre, and the GMCs are on average only marginally gravitationally bound (with a mean virial parameter αobs,vir) ≈ 1.7). We discuss the possible origins of the steep size-linewidth relation and enhanced observed linewidths of the clouds and suggest that a combination of mechanisms such as stellar feedback, gas accretion, and cloud-cloud collisions, as well as the gas inflows driven by the large-scale bar, may play a role.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4045-4059
Number of pages15
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume531
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024 Jul 1

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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