The ATLASGAL survey: distribution of cold dust in the Galactic plane. Combination with Planck data

Abstract

Sensitive ground-based submillimeter surveys, such as ATLASGAL, provide a global view on the distribution of cold dense gas in the Galactic plane. Here we use the 353 GHz maps from the Planck/HFI instrument to complement the ground-based APEX/LABOCA observations with information on larger angular scales. The resulting maps reveal the distribution of cold dust in the inner Galaxy with a larger spatial dynamic range. We find examples of elongated structures extending over angular scales of 0.5 degree. Corresponding to >30 pc structures in projection at a distance of 3 kpc, these dust lanes are very extended and show large aspect ratios. Furthermore, we assess the fraction of dense gas ($f_{\mathrm{DG}}$), and estimate 2-5% (above A${}_{\mathrm{v}}>$7 mag) on average in the Galactic plane. PDFs of the column density reveal the typically observed log-normal distribution for low- and exhibit an excess at high column densities. As a reference for extragalactic studies, we show the line-of-sight integrated N-PDF of the inner Galaxy, and derive a contribution of this excess to the total column density of $\sim 2.2$%, above $N_{{\mathrm{H}}_2}=2.92\times 10^{22}$ cm${}^{-2}$. Taking the total flux density, we provide an independent estimate of the mass of molecular gas in the inner Galaxy of $\sim 1\times 10^9{M}_{\odot }$, which is consistent with previous estimates using CO emission. From the mass and $f_{\mathrm{DG}}$ we estimate a Galactic SFR of $\dot{M}=1.3M_{\odot }$ yr${}^{-1}$. While the distribution of diffuse gas is homogenous in the inner Galaxy, the CMZ stands out with a higher dense gas fraction. The low star formation efficiency of the Milky Way is well explained by the low $f_{\mathrm{DG}}$ in the Galactic ISM, while the high $f_{\mathrm{DG}}$ towards the CMZ, despite its low star formation activity, suggests that, in that particular region of our Galaxy, high-density gas is not the bottleneck for star formation.

Accepted for publication in A&A. 10 pages, 10 figures, abstract is shortened

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