N${}_2$H${}^{+}$(1-0) as a tracer of dense gas in and between spiral arms

Abstract

Recent advances in identifying giant molecular filaments in galactic surveys allow us to study the interstellar material and its dense, potentially star forming phase on scales comparable to resolved extragalactic clouds. Two large filaments detected in the CHIMPS ${}^{13}$CO(3-2) survey, one in the Sagittarius-arm and one in an inter-arm region, were mapped with dense gas tracers inside a 0.06 deg${}^2$ area and with a spatial resolution of around 0.4 and 0.65 pc at the distance of the targets using the IRAM 30m telescope, to investigate the environmental dependence of the dense gas fraction. The N${}_2$H${}^{+}$(1-0) transition, an excellent tracer of the dense gas, was detected in parsec-scale, elliptical clumps and with a filling factor of around 8.5% in our maps. The N${}_2$H${}^{+}$-emitting areas appear to have higher dense gas fraction (e.g. the ratio of N${}_2$H${}^{+}$ and ${}^{13}$CO emission) in the inter-arm than in the arm which is opposite to the behaviour found by previous studies, using dust emission rather than N${}_2$H${}^{+}$ as a tracer of dense gas. However, the arm filament is brighter in ${}^{13}$CO and the infrared emission of dust, and the dense gas fraction determined as above is governed by the ${}^{13}$CO brightness. We caution that measurements regarding the distribution and fraction of dense gas on these scales may be influenced by many scale- and environment-dependent factors, as well as the chemistry and excitation of the particular tracers, then consider several scenarios that can reproduce the observed effect.

18 pages, 9 figures, accepted by MNRAS