Molecular and atomic gas in the Local Group galaxy M 33

We present high-resolution large-scale observations of the molecular and atomic gas in the Local Group galaxy M 33. The observations were carried out using the HEterodyne Receiver Array (HERA) at the 30 m IRAM telescope in the CO(2–1) line, achieving a resolution of 12″ × 2.6 km s-1, enabling individual giant molecular clouds (GMCs) to be resolved. The observed region is 650 square arcminutes mainly along the major axis and out to a radius of 8.5 kpc, and covers entirely the 2′ × 40′ radial strip observed with the HIFI and PACS Spectrometers as part of the HERM33ES Herschel key program. The achieved sensitivity in main-beam temperature is 20–50 mK at 2.6 km s-1 velocity resolution. The CO(2–1) luminosity of the observed region is 1.7 ± 0.1 × 107 K km s-1 pc2 and is estimated to be 2.8 ± 0.3 × 107 K km s-1 pc2 for the entire galaxy, corresponding to H2 masses of 1.9 × 108 M⊙ and 3.3 × 108 M⊙ respectively (including He), calculated with N(H2)/ICO(1 − 0) twice the Galactic value due to the half-solar metallicity of M 33. The H i 21 cm VLA archive observations were reduced, and the mosaic was imaged and cleaned using the multi-scale task in the CASA software package, yielding a series of datacubes with resolutions ranging from 5″ to 25″. The H i mass within a radius of 8.5 kpc is estimated to be 1.4 × 109 M⊙ . The azimuthally averaged CO surface brightness decreases exponentially with a scale length of 1.9 ± 0.1 kpc whereas theatomic gas surface density is constant at ΣHi = 6 ± 2 M⊙ pc-2 deprojected to face-on. For an N(H2)/ICO(1 − 0) conversion factor twice that of the Milky Way, the central kiloparsec H2 surface density is ΣH2 = 8.5 ± 0.2 M⊙ pc-2. The star formation rate per unit molecular gas (SF efficiency, the rate of transformation of molecular gas into stars), as traced by the ratio of CO to Hα and FIR brightness, is constant with radius. The SFE, with a N(H2)/ICO(1 − 0) factor twice galactic, appears 2–4 times greater than for large spiral galaxies. A morphological comparison of molecular and atomic gas with tracers of star formation is presented showing good agreement between these maps both in terms of peaks and holes. A few exceptions are noted. Several spectra, including those of a molecular cloud situated more than 8 kpc from the galaxy center, are presented.