The impact of spiral arms on the star formation life cycle

Andrea Romanelli; Mélanie Chevance; J. M. Diederik Kruijssen; Lise Ramambason; Miguel Querejeta; Mederic Boquien; Daniel A. Dale; Jakob den Brok; Simon C.O. Glover; Kathryn Grasha; Annie Hughes; Jaeyeon Kim; Steven Longmore; Sharon E. Meidt; José Eduardo Mendez-Delgado; Lukas Neumann; Jérôme Pety; Eva Schinnerer; Rowan Smith; Jiayi Sun; Thomas G. Williams

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202553895

Thomas G. Williams

Physics And Astronomy

Producción científica: Article › revisión exhaustiva

1 Cita (Scopus)

Resumen

The matter cycle between gas clouds and stars in galaxies plays a crucial role in regulating galaxy evolution through feedback mechanisms. In turn, the local and global galactic environments shape the interstellar medium and provide the initial conditions for star formation, potentially affecting the properties of this small-scale matter cycle. In particular, spiral arms have been proposed to play a pivotal role in the star formation life cycle, by enhancing the gas density and triggering star formation. However, their exact role is still debated. In this study, we investigated the role of spiral arms in the giant molecular cloud evolutionary life cycle and on the star formation process in a sample of 22 nearby spiral galaxies from the PHANGS survey. We measured the cloud lifetime, the feedback timescale, the typical distance between independent regions, and the star formation efficiency in spiral arms and inter-arm regions separately. We find that the distributions of the cloud lifetime as well as the feedback timescale are similar in both environments. This result suggests that spiral arms are unlikely to play a dominant role in triggering star formation. By contrast, the star formation efficiency appears to be slightly higher in inter-arm regions compared to spiral arms.

Idioma original	English
Número de artículo	A296
Publicación	Astronomy and Astrophysics
Volumen	698
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202553895
Estado	Published - jun 1 2025

Nota bibliográfica

Publisher Copyright:
© The Authors 2025.

Financiación

AR, MC and LR gratefully acknowledge funding from the DFG through an Emmy Noether Research Group (grant number CH2137/1-1). JMDK gratefully acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme via the ERC Starting Grant MUSTANG (grant agreement number 714907). COOL Research DAO (Chevance et al. 2025) is a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation supporting research in astrophysics aimed at uncovering our cosmic origins. MQ acknowledges support from the Spanish grant PID2022-138560NB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, EU. J.K. is supported by a Kavli Fellowship at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC). J.S. acknowledges support by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant HSTHF2-51544 awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract NAS 5-26555. JPe acknowledges support by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche through the DAOISM grant ANR-21-CE31-0010 and by the Thematic Action “Physique et Chimie du Milieu Interstellaire” (PCMI) of INSU Programme National “Astro”, with contributions from CNRS Physique & CNRS Chimie, CEA, and CNES. SCOG acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council via the ERC Synergy Grant “ECOGAL” (project ID 855130) and from the German Excellence Strategy via the Heidelberg Cluster of Excellence (EXC 2181 – 390900948) “STRUCTURES”. This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2012.1.00650.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2013.1.01161.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2015.1.00925.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2015.1.00956.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2017.1.00886.L, 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. This paper includes data gathered with the 2.5 meter du Pont located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, and data based on observations carried out at the MPG 2.2 m telescope on La Silla, Chile. AR, MC and LR gratefully acknowledge funding from the DFG through an Emmy Noether Research Group (grant number CH2137/1-1). JMDK gratefully acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme via the ERC Starting Grant MUSTANG (grant agreement number 714907). COOL Research DAO (Chevance et al. 2025) is a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation supporting research in astrophysics aimed at uncovering our cosmic origins. MQ acknowledges support from the Spanish grant PID2022-138560NB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, EU. J.K. is supported by a Kavli Fellowship at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC). J.S. acknowledges support by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant HST-HF2-51544 awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract NAS 5-26555. JPe acknowledges support by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche through the DAOISM grant ANR-21-CE31-0010 and by the Thematic Action “Physique et Chimie du Milieu Interstellaire” (PCMI) of INSU Programme National “Astro”, with contributions from CNRS Physique & CNRS Chimie, CEA, and CNES. SCOG acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council via the ERC Synergy Grant “ECOGAL” (project ID 855130) and from the German Excellence Strategy via the Heidelberg Cluster of Excellence (EXC 2181 – 390900948) “STRUCTURES”. This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2012.1.00650.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2013.1.01161.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2015.1.00925.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2015.1.00956.S, ADS/JAO.ALMA#2017.1.00886.L, 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. This paper includes data gathered with the 2.5 meter du Pont located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, and data based on observations carried out at the MPG 2.2 m telescope on La Silla, Chile.

Financiadores	Número del financiador
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan
L3 ADS
German Excellence Strategy in the Heidelberg Cluster of Excellence STRUCTURES	2012.1.00650, EXC 2181 – 390900948
Thematic Action “Physique et Chimie du Milieu Interstellaire
CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives
NSF
ASIAA (Taiwan)
Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane
National Institutes of Natural Sciences, National Institute for Physiological Sciences
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
H2020 European Research Council
Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
National Research Council Canada (NRCC)
KASI
French Agence Nationale de la Recherche	ANR-21-CE31-0010
Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales	855130
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	PID2022-138560NB-I00, 714907, 2025
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	HST-HF2-51544
Space Telescope Science Institute	NAS 5-26555
JAO	2017.1.00886, 2015.1.00925, 2015.1.00956
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft	CH2137/1-1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1051/0004-6361/202553895

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Romanelli, A., Chevance, M., Diederik Kruijssen, J. M., Ramambason, L., Querejeta, M., Boquien, M., Dale, D. A., den Brok, J., Glover, S. C. O., Grasha, K., Hughes, A., Kim, J., Longmore, S., Meidt, S. E., Mendez-Delgado, J. E., Neumann, L., Pety, J., Schinnerer, E., Smith, R., ... Williams, T. G. (2025). The impact of spiral arms on the star formation life cycle. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 698, Artículo A296. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202553895

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title = "The impact of spiral arms on the star formation life cycle",

abstract = "The matter cycle between gas clouds and stars in galaxies plays a crucial role in regulating galaxy evolution through feedback mechanisms. In turn, the local and global galactic environments shape the interstellar medium and provide the initial conditions for star formation, potentially affecting the properties of this small-scale matter cycle. In particular, spiral arms have been proposed to play a pivotal role in the star formation life cycle, by enhancing the gas density and triggering star formation. However, their exact role is still debated. In this study, we investigated the role of spiral arms in the giant molecular cloud evolutionary life cycle and on the star formation process in a sample of 22 nearby spiral galaxies from the PHANGS survey. We measured the cloud lifetime, the feedback timescale, the typical distance between independent regions, and the star formation efficiency in spiral arms and inter-arm regions separately. We find that the distributions of the cloud lifetime as well as the feedback timescale are similar in both environments. This result suggests that spiral arms are unlikely to play a dominant role in triggering star formation. By contrast, the star formation efficiency appears to be slightly higher in inter-arm regions compared to spiral arms.",

keywords = "galaxies: ISM, galaxies: spiral, galaxies: star formation",

author = "Andrea Romanelli and M{\'e}lanie Chevance and \{Diederik Kruijssen\}, \{J. M.\} and Lise Ramambason and Miguel Querejeta and Mederic Boquien and Dale, \{Daniel A.\} and \{den Brok\}, Jakob and Glover, \{Simon C.O.\} and Kathryn Grasha and Annie Hughes and Jaeyeon Kim and Steven Longmore and Meidt, \{Sharon E.\} and Mendez-Delgado, \{Jos{\'e} Eduardo\} and Lukas Neumann and J{\'e}r{\^o}me Pety and Eva Schinnerer and Rowan Smith and Jiayi Sun and Williams, \{Thomas G.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Authors 2025.",

year = "2025",

month = jun,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1051/0004-6361/202553895",

language = "English",

volume = "698",

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Romanelli, A, Chevance, M, Diederik Kruijssen, JM, Ramambason, L, Querejeta, M, Boquien, M, Dale, DA, den Brok, J, Glover, SCO, Grasha, K, Hughes, A, Kim, J, Longmore, S, Meidt, SE, Mendez-Delgado, JE, Neumann, L, Pety, J, Schinnerer, E, Smith, R, Sun, J & Williams, TG 2025, 'The impact of spiral arms on the star formation life cycle', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 698, A296. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202553895

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T1 - The impact of spiral arms on the star formation life cycle

AU - Romanelli, Andrea

AU - Chevance, Mélanie

AU - Diederik Kruijssen, J. M.

AU - Ramambason, Lise

AU - Querejeta, Miguel

AU - Boquien, Mederic

AU - Dale, Daniel A.

AU - den Brok, Jakob

AU - Glover, Simon C.O.

AU - Grasha, Kathryn

AU - Hughes, Annie

AU - Kim, Jaeyeon

AU - Longmore, Steven

AU - Meidt, Sharon E.

AU - Mendez-Delgado, José Eduardo

AU - Neumann, Lukas

AU - Pety, Jérôme

AU - Schinnerer, Eva

AU - Smith, Rowan

AU - Sun, Jiayi

AU - Williams, Thomas G.

PY - 2025/6/1

Y1 - 2025/6/1

N2 - The matter cycle between gas clouds and stars in galaxies plays a crucial role in regulating galaxy evolution through feedback mechanisms. In turn, the local and global galactic environments shape the interstellar medium and provide the initial conditions for star formation, potentially affecting the properties of this small-scale matter cycle. In particular, spiral arms have been proposed to play a pivotal role in the star formation life cycle, by enhancing the gas density and triggering star formation. However, their exact role is still debated. In this study, we investigated the role of spiral arms in the giant molecular cloud evolutionary life cycle and on the star formation process in a sample of 22 nearby spiral galaxies from the PHANGS survey. We measured the cloud lifetime, the feedback timescale, the typical distance between independent regions, and the star formation efficiency in spiral arms and inter-arm regions separately. We find that the distributions of the cloud lifetime as well as the feedback timescale are similar in both environments. This result suggests that spiral arms are unlikely to play a dominant role in triggering star formation. By contrast, the star formation efficiency appears to be slightly higher in inter-arm regions compared to spiral arms.

AB - The matter cycle between gas clouds and stars in galaxies plays a crucial role in regulating galaxy evolution through feedback mechanisms. In turn, the local and global galactic environments shape the interstellar medium and provide the initial conditions for star formation, potentially affecting the properties of this small-scale matter cycle. In particular, spiral arms have been proposed to play a pivotal role in the star formation life cycle, by enhancing the gas density and triggering star formation. However, their exact role is still debated. In this study, we investigated the role of spiral arms in the giant molecular cloud evolutionary life cycle and on the star formation process in a sample of 22 nearby spiral galaxies from the PHANGS survey. We measured the cloud lifetime, the feedback timescale, the typical distance between independent regions, and the star formation efficiency in spiral arms and inter-arm regions separately. We find that the distributions of the cloud lifetime as well as the feedback timescale are similar in both environments. This result suggests that spiral arms are unlikely to play a dominant role in triggering star formation. By contrast, the star formation efficiency appears to be slightly higher in inter-arm regions compared to spiral arms.

KW - galaxies: ISM

KW - galaxies: spiral

KW - galaxies: star formation

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