Molecular properties of (U)LIRGs: CO, HCN, HNC and HCO+

Abstract

The observed molecular properties of a sample of FIR-luminous and OH megamaser (OH-MM) galaxies have been investigated. The ratio of high and low-density tracer lines is found to be determined by the progression of the star formation in the system. The HCO+/HCN and HCO+/HNC line ratios are good proxies for the density of the gas, and PDR and XDR sources can be distinguished using the HNC/HCN line ratio. The properties of the OH-MM sources in the sample can be explained by PDR chemistry in gas with densities higher than 10^5.5 cm^-3, confirming the classical OH-MM model of IR pumped amplification with (variable) low gains.

arXiv comment5 pages, 2 figures, to appear in: IAU Symposium 242 Astrophysical Masers and their Environments

References in corpus (1)

• What Powers Ultra-luminous IRAS Galaxies?

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