ALMA CO observations of a giant molecular cloud in M 33 : evidence for high-mass star formation triggered by cloud-cloud collisions

Hidetoshi Sano, Kisetsu Tsuge, Kazuki Tokuda, Kazuyuki Muraoka, Kengo Tachihara, Yumiko Yamane, Mikito Kohno, Shinji Fujita, Rei Enokiya, Gavin Rowell, Nigel Maxted, Miroslav D. Filipović, Jonathan Knies, Manami Sasaki, Toshikazu Onishi, Paul P. Plucinsky, Yasuo Fukui

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report the first evidence for high-mass star formation triggered by collisions of molecular clouds in M 33. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, we spatially resolved filamentary structures of giant molecular cloud 37 in M 33 using 12CO(J = 2-1), 13CO(J = 2-1), and C18O(J = 2-1) line emission at a spatial resolution of ∼2 pc. There are two individual molecular clouds with a systematic velocity difference of ∼6 km s-1. Three continuum sources representing up to ∼10 high-mass stars with spectral types of B0V-O7.5V are embedded within the densest parts of molecular clouds bright in the C18O(J = 2-1) line emission. The two molecular clouds show a complementary spatial distribution with a spatial displacement of ∼6.2 pc, and show a V-shaped structure in the position-velocity diagram. These observational features traced by CO and its isotopes are consistent with those in high-mass star-forming regions created by cloud-cloud collisions in the Galactic and Magellanic Cloud H II regions. Our new finding in M 33 indicates that cloud-cloud collision is a promising process for triggering high-mass star formation in the Local Group.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)S62-S74
Number of pages13
JournalPublications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
Volume73
Issue numberSP1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

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