Several views of our data across NGC 4945: peak temperature (top), integrated intensity (upper middle), intensity-weighted velocity (lower middle), and velocity dispersion (bottom). Over this huge field, we will be able to study thousands of molecular gas structures, from small clouds to galaxy-wide spiral arms.
Preliminary efforts to characterize the velocity field of NGC 4945, an important step towards decomposing the vertical and environmental structure of the molecular ISM kinematically.
Preliminary FilFinder run over a portion of the CO(2-1) integrated intensity map, demonstrating the approach's feasibility to produce a comprehensive structural inventory of the molecular ISM across the surveyed region.
The NGC 4945 ALMA survey
- Data: 12m + 7m + TP ALMA CO(2−1) isotopologues
- Field: 2.5 × 11.7 kpc2
- Spatial resolution: 1.0'' ~ 14 pc
- Velocity resolution: 1.3 km/s
- Completeness: ~ 104 solar masses
What is the resolved vertical distribution of the molecular ISM?
I was recently awarded a 22-hour ALMA program to study the massive, highly inclined galaxy NGC 4945 in CO(2-1) at 14 pc resolution, enabling the first high-resolution survey of the vertical structure of molecular gas across an entire star-forming disk. We will use these observations to test theoretical predictions about the vertical structure of molecular gas and the orientation and concentration of filamentary structures. We'll also combine these data with complementary MUSE and ACA dense gas observations for a multi-phase view of the ISM's vertical structure.