VERTICO: III. The Kennicutt-Schmidt relation in Virgo cluster galaxies

María J. Jiménez-Donaire; Toby Brown; Christine D. Wilson; Ian D. Roberts; Nikki Zabel; Sara L. Ellison; Mallory Thorp; Vicente Villanueva; Ryan Chown; Dhruv Bisaria; Alberto D. Bolatto; Alessandro Boselli; Barbara Catinella; Aeree Chung; Luca Cortese; Timothy A. Davis; Claudia D.P. Lagos; Bumhyun Lee; Laura C. Parker; Kristine Spekkens; Adam R.H. Stevens; Jiayi Sun

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202244718

VERTICO: III. The Kennicutt-Schmidt relation in Virgo cluster galaxies

María J. Jiménez-Donaire
, Toby Brown
, Christine D. Wilson
, Ian D. Roberts
, Nikki Zabel
, Sara L. Ellison
, Mallory Thorp
, Vicente Villanueva
, Ryan Chown
, Dhruv Bisaria
, Alberto D. Bolatto
, Alessandro Boselli
, Barbara Catinella
, Aeree Chung
, Luca Cortese
, Timothy A. Davis
, Claudia D.P. Lagos
, Bumhyun Lee
, Laura C. Parker
, Kristine Spekkens

Adam R.H. Stevens, Jiayi Sun

Physics And Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aims. In this Virgo Environment Traced in CO (VERTICO) science paper, we aim to study how the star formation process depends on the galactic environment and gravitational interactions in the context of galaxy evolution. We explore the scaling relation between the star formation rate surface density (ΣSFR) and the molecular gas surface density (Σmol), also known as the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, in a subsample of Virgo cluster spiral galaxies. Methods. We used new Atacama Compact Array and Total Power (ACA+TP) observations from the VERTICO-Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Large Program at 720 pc resolution to resolve the molecular gas content, as traced by the 12CO (2 - 1) transition, across the disks of 37 spiral galaxies in the Virgo cluster. In combination with archival UV and IR observations used to determine the star formation rate (SFR), we estimated the parameters of the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation for the entire ensemble of galaxies, and within individual galaxies. Results. We find the KS slope for the entire population to be N = 0.97 ± 0.07, with a characteristic molecular gas depletion time of 1.86 Gyr for our full sample, which is in agreement with previous work in isolated, nearby star-forming galaxies. In individual galaxies, we find that the KS slope ranges between 0.69 and 1.40, and that typical star formation efficiencies of molecular gas can vary from galaxy to galaxy by a factor of ∼4. These galaxy-to-galaxy variations account for ∼0.20 dex in scatter in the ensemble KS relation, which is characterized by a 0.42 dex scatter. In addition, we find that the HI-deficient galaxies in the Virgo cluster show a steeper resolved KS relation and lower molecular gas efficiencies than HI-normal cluster galaxies. Conclusions. While the molecular gas content in galaxies residing in the Virgo cluster appears - to first order - to behave similarly to that in isolated galaxies, our VERTICO sample of galaxies shows that cluster environments play a key role in regulating star formation. The environmental mechanisms affecting the HI galaxy content also have a direct impact on the star formation efficiency of molecular gas in cluster galaxies, leading to longer depletion times in HI-deficient members.

Original language	English
Article number	A3
Journal	Astronomy and Astrophysics
Volume	671
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202244718
State	Published - Mar 1 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Authors 2023.

Funding

Acknowledgements. MJJD thanks Miguel Querejeta, Eric Pellegrini and Ivana Bešlić for helpful discussions during the development of this work. CDW acknowledges support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canada Research Chairs program. IDR acknowledges support from the ERC Starting Grant Cluster Web 804208. AC acknowledges support by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), grant No. 2018R1D1A1B07048314. Parts of this research were supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013. LCP acknowledges support from the Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada. The work of JS is partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through the CITA National Fellowship. V. V. acknowledges support from the scholarship ANID-FULBRIGHT BIO 2016 - 56160020 and funding from NRAO Student Observing Support (SOS) - SOSPA7-014. V. V. acknowledges partial support from NSF-AST1615960. This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2019.1.00763.L, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2017.1.00886.L, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2016.1.00912.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2015.1.00956.S. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. MJJD thanks Miguel Querejeta, Eric Pellegrini and Ivana Bešlić for helpful discussions during the development of this work. CDW acknowledges support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canada Research Chairs program. IDR acknowledges support from the ERC Starting Grant Cluster Web 804208. AC acknowledges support by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), grant No. 2018R1D1A1B07048314. Parts of this research were supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013. LCP acknowledges support from the Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada. The work of JS is partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through the CITA National Fellowship. V. V. acknowledges support from the scholarship ANID-FULBRIGHT BIO 2016 – 56160020 and funding from NRAO Student Observing Support (SOS) – SOSPA7-014. V. V. acknowledges partial support from NSF-AST1615960. This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMAhttps://almascience.nrao.edu/asax/?resultview=observationprojectCode=%222019.1.00763.L%22, ADS/JAO.ALMAhttps://almascience.nrao.edu/asax/?resultview=observationprojectCode=%222017.1.00886.L%22, ADS/JAO.ALMAhttps://almascience.nrao.edu/asax/?resultview=observationprojectCode=%222016.1.00912.S%22, ADS/JAO.ALMAhttps://almascience.nrao.edu/asax/?resultview=observationprojectCode=%222015.1.00956.S%22. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Funders	Funder number
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Australian Research Council
ASIAA (Taiwan)
Associated Universities Inc
National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Canada Excellence Research Chairs, Government of Canada
IPAC
Australian Diabetes Society
H2020 European Research Council
National Research Council Canada (NRCC)
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Science and Technology Facilities Council	ST/S00033X/1
Australian Research Council	CE170100013
NSF-AST1615960	2019.1.00763
JAO	2016.1.00912, 2017.1.00886, 2015.1.00956
National Research Foundation of Korea	2018R1D1A1B07048314
National Radio Astronomy Observatory	SOSPA7-014
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada	ANID-FULBRIGHT BIO 2016 – 56160020
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	804208

Keywords

Galaxies: general
Galaxies: ISM
Galaxies: star formation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

Access to Document

10.1051/0004-6361/202244718

Cite this

Jiménez-Donaire, M. J., Brown, T., Wilson, C. D., Roberts, I. D., Zabel, N., Ellison, S. L., Thorp, M., Villanueva, V., Chown, R., Bisaria, D., Bolatto, A. D., Boselli, A., Catinella, B., Chung, A., Cortese, L., Davis, T. A., Lagos, C. D. P., Lee, B., Parker, L. C., ... Sun, J. (2023). VERTICO: III. The Kennicutt-Schmidt relation in Virgo cluster galaxies. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 671, Article A3. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202244718

@article{df1b9ca8f1474b66bfd38177022373ab,

title = "VERTICO: III. The Kennicutt-Schmidt relation in Virgo cluster galaxies",

abstract = "Aims. In this Virgo Environment Traced in CO (VERTICO) science paper, we aim to study how the star formation process depends on the galactic environment and gravitational interactions in the context of galaxy evolution. We explore the scaling relation between the star formation rate surface density (ΣSFR) and the molecular gas surface density (Σmol), also known as the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, in a subsample of Virgo cluster spiral galaxies. Methods. We used new Atacama Compact Array and Total Power (ACA+TP) observations from the VERTICO-Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Large Program at 720 pc resolution to resolve the molecular gas content, as traced by the 12CO (2 - 1) transition, across the disks of 37 spiral galaxies in the Virgo cluster. In combination with archival UV and IR observations used to determine the star formation rate (SFR), we estimated the parameters of the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation for the entire ensemble of galaxies, and within individual galaxies. Results. We find the KS slope for the entire population to be N = 0.97 ± 0.07, with a characteristic molecular gas depletion time of 1.86 Gyr for our full sample, which is in agreement with previous work in isolated, nearby star-forming galaxies. In individual galaxies, we find that the KS slope ranges between 0.69 and 1.40, and that typical star formation efficiencies of molecular gas can vary from galaxy to galaxy by a factor of ∼4. These galaxy-to-galaxy variations account for ∼0.20 dex in scatter in the ensemble KS relation, which is characterized by a 0.42 dex scatter. In addition, we find that the HI-deficient galaxies in the Virgo cluster show a steeper resolved KS relation and lower molecular gas efficiencies than HI-normal cluster galaxies. Conclusions. While the molecular gas content in galaxies residing in the Virgo cluster appears - to first order - to behave similarly to that in isolated galaxies, our VERTICO sample of galaxies shows that cluster environments play a key role in regulating star formation. The environmental mechanisms affecting the HI galaxy content also have a direct impact on the star formation efficiency of molecular gas in cluster galaxies, leading to longer depletion times in HI-deficient members.",

keywords = "Galaxies: general, Galaxies: ISM, Galaxies: star formation",

author = "Jim{\'e}nez-Donaire, \{Mar{\'i}a J.\} and Toby Brown and Wilson, \{Christine D.\} and Roberts, \{Ian D.\} and Nikki Zabel and Ellison, \{Sara L.\} and Mallory Thorp and Vicente Villanueva and Ryan Chown and Dhruv Bisaria and Bolatto, \{Alberto D.\} and Alessandro Boselli and Barbara Catinella and Aeree Chung and Luca Cortese and Davis, \{Timothy A.\} and Lagos, \{Claudia D.P.\} and Bumhyun Lee and Parker, \{Laura C.\} and Kristine Spekkens and Stevens, \{Adam R.H.\} and Jiayi Sun",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Authors 2023.",

year = "2023",

month = mar,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1051/0004-6361/202244718",

language = "English",

volume = "671",

}

Jiménez-Donaire, MJ, Brown, T, Wilson, CD, Roberts, ID, Zabel, N, Ellison, SL, Thorp, M, Villanueva, V, Chown, R, Bisaria, D, Bolatto, AD, Boselli, A, Catinella, B, Chung, A, Cortese, L, Davis, TA, Lagos, CDP, Lee, B, Parker, LC, Spekkens, K, Stevens, ARH & Sun, J 2023, 'VERTICO: III. The Kennicutt-Schmidt relation in Virgo cluster galaxies', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 671, A3. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202244718

TY - JOUR

T1 - VERTICO

T2 - III. The Kennicutt-Schmidt relation in Virgo cluster galaxies

AU - Jiménez-Donaire, María J.

AU - Brown, Toby

AU - Wilson, Christine D.

AU - Roberts, Ian D.

AU - Zabel, Nikki

AU - Ellison, Sara L.

AU - Thorp, Mallory

AU - Villanueva, Vicente

AU - Chown, Ryan

AU - Bisaria, Dhruv

AU - Bolatto, Alberto D.

AU - Boselli, Alessandro

AU - Catinella, Barbara

AU - Chung, Aeree

AU - Cortese, Luca

AU - Davis, Timothy A.

AU - Lagos, Claudia D.P.

AU - Lee, Bumhyun

AU - Parker, Laura C.

AU - Spekkens, Kristine

AU - Stevens, Adam R.H.

AU - Sun, Jiayi

PY - 2023/3/1

Y1 - 2023/3/1

N2 - Aims. In this Virgo Environment Traced in CO (VERTICO) science paper, we aim to study how the star formation process depends on the galactic environment and gravitational interactions in the context of galaxy evolution. We explore the scaling relation between the star formation rate surface density (ΣSFR) and the molecular gas surface density (Σmol), also known as the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, in a subsample of Virgo cluster spiral galaxies. Methods. We used new Atacama Compact Array and Total Power (ACA+TP) observations from the VERTICO-Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Large Program at 720 pc resolution to resolve the molecular gas content, as traced by the 12CO (2 - 1) transition, across the disks of 37 spiral galaxies in the Virgo cluster. In combination with archival UV and IR observations used to determine the star formation rate (SFR), we estimated the parameters of the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation for the entire ensemble of galaxies, and within individual galaxies. Results. We find the KS slope for the entire population to be N = 0.97 ± 0.07, with a characteristic molecular gas depletion time of 1.86 Gyr for our full sample, which is in agreement with previous work in isolated, nearby star-forming galaxies. In individual galaxies, we find that the KS slope ranges between 0.69 and 1.40, and that typical star formation efficiencies of molecular gas can vary from galaxy to galaxy by a factor of ∼4. These galaxy-to-galaxy variations account for ∼0.20 dex in scatter in the ensemble KS relation, which is characterized by a 0.42 dex scatter. In addition, we find that the HI-deficient galaxies in the Virgo cluster show a steeper resolved KS relation and lower molecular gas efficiencies than HI-normal cluster galaxies. Conclusions. While the molecular gas content in galaxies residing in the Virgo cluster appears - to first order - to behave similarly to that in isolated galaxies, our VERTICO sample of galaxies shows that cluster environments play a key role in regulating star formation. The environmental mechanisms affecting the HI galaxy content also have a direct impact on the star formation efficiency of molecular gas in cluster galaxies, leading to longer depletion times in HI-deficient members.

AB - Aims. In this Virgo Environment Traced in CO (VERTICO) science paper, we aim to study how the star formation process depends on the galactic environment and gravitational interactions in the context of galaxy evolution. We explore the scaling relation between the star formation rate surface density (ΣSFR) and the molecular gas surface density (Σmol), also known as the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, in a subsample of Virgo cluster spiral galaxies. Methods. We used new Atacama Compact Array and Total Power (ACA+TP) observations from the VERTICO-Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Large Program at 720 pc resolution to resolve the molecular gas content, as traced by the 12CO (2 - 1) transition, across the disks of 37 spiral galaxies in the Virgo cluster. In combination with archival UV and IR observations used to determine the star formation rate (SFR), we estimated the parameters of the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation for the entire ensemble of galaxies, and within individual galaxies. Results. We find the KS slope for the entire population to be N = 0.97 ± 0.07, with a characteristic molecular gas depletion time of 1.86 Gyr for our full sample, which is in agreement with previous work in isolated, nearby star-forming galaxies. In individual galaxies, we find that the KS slope ranges between 0.69 and 1.40, and that typical star formation efficiencies of molecular gas can vary from galaxy to galaxy by a factor of ∼4. These galaxy-to-galaxy variations account for ∼0.20 dex in scatter in the ensemble KS relation, which is characterized by a 0.42 dex scatter. In addition, we find that the HI-deficient galaxies in the Virgo cluster show a steeper resolved KS relation and lower molecular gas efficiencies than HI-normal cluster galaxies. Conclusions. While the molecular gas content in galaxies residing in the Virgo cluster appears - to first order - to behave similarly to that in isolated galaxies, our VERTICO sample of galaxies shows that cluster environments play a key role in regulating star formation. The environmental mechanisms affecting the HI galaxy content also have a direct impact on the star formation efficiency of molecular gas in cluster galaxies, leading to longer depletion times in HI-deficient members.

KW - Galaxies: general

KW - Galaxies: ISM

KW - Galaxies: star formation

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85149393814

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85149393814#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/202244718

DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/202244718

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85149393814

SN - 0004-6361

VL - 671

JO - Astronomy and Astrophysics

JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics

M1 - A3

ER -

VERTICO: III. The Kennicutt-Schmidt relation in Virgo cluster galaxies

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