Invited Presentation
From our Galactic backyard to Andromeda's neighborhoods: broadening the horizons of resolved Giant Molecular Cloud science with the SMA
Presenter: Jan Forbrich (University of Hertfordshire / Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
With the advent of new observational capabilities, an increasing overlap is emerging between Galactic and extragalactic star formation research. Individual Giant Molecular Cloud (GMC) properties can now be measured both in the Milky Way and in nearby galaxies, widening the dynamic range of cloud environments that is accessible to direct observations. The key challenge now is to truly bridge the gap between our understanding of Milky Way and extragalactic GMC-scale star formation by employing similar observational methodology on similar spatial scales. In our Galactic neighbourhood, extinction mapping arguably is the gold standard of GMC characterization; it relies on dust rather than gas as a tracer. Here we present first results of our SMA large program targeting GMCs in the Andromeda Galaxy. This project is resulting in the first resolved dust observations of individual GMCs on scales of ~10 pc beyond the Magellanic Clouds, complemented by concurrent discrete CO measurements with identical spatial filtering. Together, these data enable direct measurements of the CO X-factor within an external galaxy. This project was enabled by the recent wideband receiver upgrade for the SMA. The wSMA upgrade will offer exciting new opportunities to further close the gap between Galactic and extragalactic GMC research.
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