Theoretical modelling of two-component molecular discs in spiral galaxies

Abstract

As recent observations of the molecular discs in spiral galaxies point to the existence of a diffuse, low-density thick molecular disc along with the prominent thin one, we investigate the observational signatures of this thick disc by theoretically modelling two-component molecular discs in a sample of eight nearby spiral galaxies. Assuming a prevailing hydrostatic equilibrium, we set up and solved the joint Poisson's-Boltzmann equation to estimate the three-dimensional distribution of the molecular gas and the molecular scale height in our sample galaxies. The molecular scale height in a two-component molecular disc is found to vary between $50-300$ pc, which is higher than what is found in a single-component disc. We find that this scale height can vary significantly depending on the assumed thick disc molecular gas fraction. We also find that the molecular gas flares as a function of the radius and follows a tight exponential law with a scale length of $\left(0.48\pm 0.01\right)r_{25}$. We used the density solutions to produce the column density maps and spectral cubes to examine the ideal observing conditions to identify a thick molecular disc in galaxies. We find that unless the molecular disc is an edge-on system and imaged with a high spatial resolution ($\lesssim 100$ pc), it is extremely hard to identify a thick molecular disc in a column density map. The spectral analysis further reveals that at moderate to high inclination ($i\gtrsim 40^o$), spectral broadening can fictitiously introduce the signatures of a two-component disc into the spectral cube of a single-component disc. Hence, we conclude that a low inclination molecular disc imaged with high spatial resolution would serve as the ideal site for identifying the thick molecular disc in galaxies.

Accepted for publication in A&A

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• On the duration of the embedded phase of star formation
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