Cloud-scale Gas Properties, Depletion Times, and Star Formation Efficiency per Freefall Time in PHANGS–ALMA

Journal article

We compare measurements of star formation efficiency to cloud-scale gas properties across the PHANGS– ALMA sample. Dividing 67 galaxies into 1.5 kpc scale regions, we calculate the molecular gas depletion time τdepmol=Σmol/ΣSFR and the star formation efficiency per freefall time ϵffmol=τff/τdepmol for each region. Then we test how τdepmol and ϵffmol vary as functions of the regional mass-weighted mean molecular gas properties on cloud scales (60–150 pc): gas surface density, 〈Σmolcloud〉 , velocity dispersion, 〈σmolcloud〉 , virial parameter, 〈αvircloud〉 , and gravitational freefall time, 〈τffcloud〉 . 〈τffcloud〉 and τdepmol correlate positively, consistent with the expectation that gas density plays a key role in setting the rate of star formation. Our fiducial measurements suggest τdepmol∝〈τffcloud〉0.5 and ϵffmol≈0.34% , though the exact numbers depend on the adopted fitting methods. We also observe anticorrelations between τdepmol and 〈Σmolcloud〉 and between τdepmol and 〈σmolcloud〉 . All three correlations may reflect the same underlying link between density and star formation efficiency combined with systematic variations in the degree to which self-gravity binds molecular gas in galaxies. We highlight the τdepmol – 〈σmolcloud〉 relation because of the lower degree of correlation between the axes. Contrary to theoretical expectations, we observe an anticorrelation between τdepmol and 〈αvircloud〉 and no significant correlation between ϵffmol and 〈αvircloud〉 . Our results depend sensitively on the adopted CO-to-H2 conversion factor, with corrections for excitation and emissivity effects in inner galaxies playing an important role. We emphasize that our simple methodology and clean selection allow for easy comparison to numerical simulations and highlight this as a logical next direction.

Authors: Leroy, AK; Sun, J; Meidt, S; Agertz, O; Chiang, I

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Astronomical Society
• Journal: The Astrophysical Journal
• Volume: 985
• Issue: 1
• Article number: 14
• Publication date: 2025-05-12
• Acceptance date: 2025-02-03
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/adbcab
• EISSN: 1538-4357
• ISSN: 0004-637X
• Language: English
• Keywords: Star formation; Interstellar medium; Molecular gas; Disk galaxies