The SEDIGISM survey: Molecular clouds in the inner Galaxy
Review article, 2021

We use the 13CO(2-1) emission from the SEDIGISM (Structure, Excitation, and Dynamics of the Inner Galactic InterStellar Medium) high-resolution spectral-line survey of the inner Galaxy, to extract the molecular cloud population with a large dynamic range in spatial scales, using the Spectral Clustering for Interstellar Molecular Emission Segmentation (SCIMES) algorithm. This work compiles a cloud catalogue with a total of 10 663 molecular clouds, 10 300 of which we were able to assign distances and compute physical properties. We study some of the global properties of clouds using a science sample, consisting of 6664 well-resolved sources and for which the distance estimates are reliable. In particular, we compare the scaling relations retrieved from SEDIGISM to those of other surveys, and we explore the properties of clouds with and without high-mass star formation. Our results suggest that there is no single global property of a cloud that determines its ability to form massive stars, although we find combined trends of increasing mass, size, surface density, and velocity dispersion for the sub-sample of clouds with ongoing high-mass star formation. We then isolate the most extreme clouds in the SEDIGISM sample (i.e. clouds in the tails of the distributions) to look at their overall Galactic distribution, in search for hints of environmental effects. We find that, for most properties, the Galactic distribution of the most extreme clouds is only marginally different to that of the global cloud population. The Galactic distribution of the largest clouds, the turbulent clouds and the high-mass star-forming clouds are those that deviate most significantly from the global cloud population. We also find that the least dynamically active clouds (with low velocity dispersion or low virial parameter) are situated further afield, mostly in the least populated areas. However, we suspect that part of these trends may be affected by some observational biases (such as completeness and survey limitations), and thus require further follow up work in order to be confirmed.

Stars: Formation

ISM: Clouds

Galaxy: Structure

Galaxies: ISM, star formation

Author

A. Duarte-Cabral

Cardiff University

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

D. Colombo

Max Planck Society

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

J. S. Urquhart

University Of Kent

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

A. Ginsburg

University of Florida

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

D. Russeil

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille

F. Schuller

Max Planck Society

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

L. D. Anderson

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

West Virginia University

P. J. Barnes

University of New England

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Space Science Institute

M. Beltrán

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory

H. Beuther

Max Planck Society

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

S. Bontemps

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

University of Bordeaux

Leonardo Bronfman

University of Chile (UCH)

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

T. Csengeri

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

University of Bordeaux

C. L. Dobbs

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

University of Exeter

D. J. Eden

Liverpool John Moores University

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

A. Giannetti

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Max Planck Society

J. Kauffmann

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

M. Mattern

Max Planck Society

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

S. N.X. Medina

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Max Planck Society

K. M. Menten

Max Planck Society

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

M. Y. Lee

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Max Planck Society

A. R. Pettitt

Hokkaido University

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Manuel Riener

Max Planck Society

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Andrew Rigby

Cardiff University

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

A. Traficante

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

V. S. Veena

University of Cologne

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

M. Wienen

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Max Planck Society

F. Wyrowski

Max Planck Society

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

C. Agurto

European Southern Observatory Santiago

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

F. Azagra

European Southern Observatory Santiago

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

R. Cesaroni

Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Ricardo Finger

University of Chile (UCH)

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

E. Gonzalez

European Southern Observatory Santiago

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

T. Henning

Max Planck Society

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

A. K. Hernandez

University of Wisconsin Madison

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Jouni Kainulainen

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

Max Planck Society

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

S. Leurini

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Max Planck Society

S. Lopez

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

University of Florida

F. Mac-Auliffe

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

European Southern Observatory Santiago

P. Mazumdar

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Max Planck Society

S. Molinari

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

F. Motte

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Grenoble Alpes University

E. Muller

Macquarie University

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Quang Nguyen-Luong

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Rodrigo Parra Barraza

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

European Southern Observatory Santiago

J. P. Perez-Beaupuits

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

European Southern Observatory Santiago

F.M. Montenegro-Montes

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

European Southern Observatory Santiago

T. J.T. Moore

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Liverpool John Moores University

S. E. Ragan

Cardiff University

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

A. Sanchez-Monge

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

University of Cologne

A. Sanna

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Max Planck Society

P. Schilke

University of Cologne

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

E. Schisano

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

N. Schneider

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

University of Cologne

Sümeyye Suri

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

University of Cologne

L. Testi

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

University of Cologne

Karl Torstensson

European Southern Observatory Santiago

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

P. Venegas

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

European Southern Observatory Santiago

Ke Wang

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Beijing University of Technology

A. Zavagno

Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)

Vol. 500 3 3027-3049

Subject Categories

Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Other Physics Topics

DOI

10.1093/mnras/staa2480

More information

Latest update

9/15/2023