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Compact star formation appears to be generally common in dusty star-forming galaxies (SFGs). However, its role in the framework set by the scaling relations in galaxy evolution remains to be understood. In this work we follow up on the galaxy sample from the GOODS-ALMA 2.0 survey, an ALMA blind survey at 1.1 mm covering a continuous area of 72.42 arcmin(2) using two array configurations. We derived physical properties, such as star formation rates, gas fractions, depletion timescales, and dust temperatures for the galaxy sample built from the survey. There exists a subset of galaxies that exhibit starburst-like short depletion timescales, but they are located within the scatter of the so-called main sequence of SFGs. These are dubbed starbursts in the main sequence and display the most compact star formation and they are characterized by the shortest depletion timescales, lowest gas fractions, and highest dust temperatures of the galaxy sample, compared to typical SFGs at the same stellar mass and redshift. They are also very massive, accounting for similar to 60% of the most massive galaxies in the sample (log(M-*/M-circle dot) > 11.0). We find trends between the areas of the ongoing star formation regions and the derived physical properties for the sample, unveiling the role of compact star formation as a physical driver of these properties. Starbursts in the main sequence appear to be the extreme cases of these trends. We discuss possible scenarios of galaxy evolution to explain the results drawn from our galaxy sample. Our findings suggest that the star formation rate is sustained in SFGs by gas and star formation compression, keeping them within the main sequence even when their gas fractions are low and they are presumably on the way to quiescence.

Compact star formation appears to be generally common in dusty star-forming galaxies (SFGs). However, its role in the framework set by the scaling relations in galaxy evolution remains to be understood. In this work we follow up on the galaxy sample from the GOODS-ALMA 2.0 survey, an ALMA blind survey at 1.1 mm covering a continuous area of 72.42 arcmin(2) using two array configurations. We derived physical properties, such as star formation rates, gas fractions, depletion timescales, and dust temperatures for the galaxy sample built from the survey. There exists a subset of galaxies that exhibit starburst-like short depletion timescales, but they are located within the scatter of the so-called main sequence of SFGs. These are dubbed starbursts in the main sequence and display the most compact star formation and they are characterized by the shortest depletion timescales, lowest gas fractions, and highest dust temperatures of the galaxy sample, compared to typical SFGs at the same stellar mass and redshift. They are also very massive, accounting for similar to 60% of the most massive galaxies in the sample (log(M-*/M-circle dot) > 11.0). We find trends between the areas of the ongoing star formation regions and the derived physical properties for the sample, unveiling the role of compact star formation as a physical driver of these properties. Starbursts in the main sequence appear to be the extreme cases of these trends. We discuss possible scenarios of galaxy evolution to explain the results drawn from our galaxy sample. Our findings suggest that the star formation rate is sustained in SFGs by gas and star formation compression, keeping them within the main sequence even when their gas fractions are low and they are presumably on the way to quiescence.

Context. Stars form in cold dense cores showing subsonic velocity dispersions. The parental molecular clouds display higher temperatures and supersonic velocity dispersions. The transition from core to cloud has been observed in velocity dispersion, but temperature and abundance variations are unknown. Aims. We aim to measure the temperature and velocity dispersion across cores and ambient cloud in a single tracer to study the transition between the two regions. Methods. We use NH3 (1,1) and (2,2) maps in L1688 from the Green Bank Ammonia Survey, smoothed to 1′, and determine the physical properties by fitting the spectra. We identify the coherent cores and study the changes in temperature and velocity dispersion from the cores to the surrounding cloud. Results. We obtain a kinetic temperature map extending beyond dense cores and tracing the cloud, improving from previous maps tracing mostly the cores. The cloud is 4-6 K warmer than the cores, and shows a larger velocity dispersion (Δσv = 0.15-0.25 km s-1). Comparing to Herschel-based dust temperatures, we find that cores show kinetic temperatures that are ≈1.8 K lower than the dust temperature, while the gas temperature is higher than the dust temperature in the cloud. We find an average p-NH3 fractional abundance (with respect to H2) of (4.2 ± 0.2) × 10-9 towards the coherent cores, and (1.4 ± 0.1) × 10-9 outside the core boundaries. Using stacked spectra, we detect two components, one narrow and one broad, towards cores and their neighbourhoods. We find the turbulence in the narrow component to be correlated with the size of the structure (Pearson-r = 0.54). With these unresolved regional measurements, we obtain a turbulence-size relation of σv,NT ∝ r0.5, which is similar to previous findings using multiple tracers. Conclusions. We discover that the subsonic component extends up to 0.15 pc beyond the typical coherent boundaries, unveiling larger extents of the coherent cores and showing gradual transition to cohe

We present the second dust continuum data release in the Census of High- and Medium-mass Protostars (CHaMP), expanding the methodology trialed in Pitts et al. to the entire CHaMP survey area (280 degrees < l < 300 degrees, - 4 degrees < b < + 2 degrees). This release includes maps of dust temperature (T-d), H-2 column density (NH2), gas-phase CO abundance, and temperature-density plots for every prestellar clump with Herschel coverage, showing no evidence of internal heating for most clumps in our sample. We show that CO abundance is a strong function of T-d and can be fit with a second-order polynomial in log-space, with a typical dispersion of a factor of 2-3. The CO abundance peaks at 20.0(-1.0)(+0.4) K with a value of 7.4(-0.3)(+0.2) x 10(-5) per H-2; the low T-d at which this maximal abundance occurs relative to laboratory results is likely due to interstellar UV bombardment in the largest survey fields. Finally, we show that, as predicted by theoretical literature and hinted at in previous studies of individual clouds, the conversion factor from integrated (CO)-C-12 line intensity ((ICO)-C-12) to NH2, the X-CO factor, varies as a broken power law in I-CO(12) with a transition zone between 70 and 90 K km s(-1). The X-CO function we propose has NH2 proportional to I-12CO(0.51) for I-12CO less than or similar to 70 K km s(-1) N-H2 proportional to I-12CO(2.3) for I-12CO greater than or similar to 90 K km s(-1) The high-I-12CO side should be generalizable with known adjustments for metallicity, but the influence of interstellar UV fields on the low-I-12CO side may be sample specific. We discuss how these results expand on previous works in the CHaMP series and help tie together observational, theoretical, and laboratory studies on CO over the past decade.

We present the second dust continuum data release in the Census of High- and Medium-mass Protostars (CHaMP), expanding the methodology trialed in Pitts et al. to the entire CHaMP survey area (280 degrees < l < 300 degrees, - 4 degrees < b < + 2 degrees). This release includes maps of dust temperature (T-d), H-2 column density (NH2), gas-phase CO abundance, and temperature-density plots for every prestellar clump with Herschel coverage, showing no evidence of internal heating for most clumps in our sample. We show that CO abundance is a strong function of T-d and can be fit with a second-order polynomial in log-space, with a typical dispersion of a factor of 2-3. The CO abundance peaks at 20.0(-1.0)(+0.4) K with a value of 7.4(-0.3)(+0.2) x 10(-5) per H-2; the low T-d at which this maximal abundance occurs relative to laboratory results is likely due to interstellar UV bombardment in the largest survey fields. Finally, we show that, as predicted by theoretical literature and hinted at in previous studies of individual clouds, the conversion factor from integrated (CO)-C-12 line intensity ((ICO)-C-12) to NH2, the X-CO factor, varies as a broken power law in I-CO(12) with a transition zone between 70 and 90 K km s(-1). The X-CO function we propose has NH2 proportional to I-12CO(0.51) for I-12CO less than or similar to 70 K km s(-1) N-H2 proportional to I-12CO(2.3) for I-12CO greater than or similar to 90 K km s(-1) The high-I-12CO side should be generalizable with known adjustments for metallicity, but the influence of interstellar UV fields on the low-I-12CO side may be sample specific. We discuss how these results expand on previous works in the CHaMP series and help tie together observational, theoretical, and laboratory studies on CO over the past decade.

Aims. We explore the long-term evolution of young protoplanetary disks with different approaches to computing the thermal structure determined by various cooling and heating processes in the disk and its surroundings. Methods. Numerical hydrodynamics simulations in the thin-disk limit were complemented with three thermal evolution schemes: a simplified β-cooling approach with and without irradiation, where the rate of disk cooling is proportional to the local dynamical time; a fiducial model with equal dust and gas temperatures calculated taking viscous heating, irradiation, and radiative cooling into account; and a more sophisticated approach allowing decoupled dust and gas temperatures. Results. We found that the gas temperature may significantly exceed that of dust in the outer regions of young disks thanks to additional compressional heating caused by the infalling envelope material in the early stages of disk evolution and slow collisional exchange of energy between gas and dust in low-density disk regions. However, the outer envelope shows an inverse trend, with the gas temperatures dropping below that of dust. The global disk evolution is only weakly sensitive to temperature decoupling. Nevertheless, separate dust and gas temperatures may affect the chemical composition, dust evolution, and disk mass estimates. Constant-β models without stellar and background irradiation fail to reproduce the disk evolution with more sophisticated thermal schemes because of the intrinsically variable nature of the β-parameter. Constant-β models with irradiation more closely match the dynamical and thermal evolution, but the agreement is still incomplete. Conclusions. Models allowing separate dust and gas temperatures are needed when emphasis is placed on the chemical or dust evolution in protoplanetary disks, particularly in subsolar metallicity environments. © ESO 2020.

Aims. The early evolution of protostellar disks with metallicities in the Zâ =â 1.0â-â 0.01â Z⊠range was studied with a particular emphasis on the strength of gravitational instability and the nature of protostellar accretion in low-metallicity systems. Methods. Numerical hydrodynamics simulations in the thin-disk limit were employed that feature separate gas and dust temperatures, and disk mass-loading from the infalling parent cloud cores. Models with cloud cores of similar initial mass and rotation pattern but distinct metallicity were considered to distinguish the effect of metallicity from that of the initial conditions. Results. The early stages of disk evolution in low-metallicity models are characterized by vigorous gravitational instability and fragmentation. Disk instability is sustained by continual mass-loading from the collapsing core. The time period that is covered by this unstable stage is much shorter in the Zâ =â 0.01â Z⊠models than in their higher metallicity counterparts thanks to the higher rates of mass infall caused by higher gas temperatures (which decouple from lower dust temperatures) in the inner parts of collapsing cores. Protostellar accretion rates are highly variable in the low-metallicity models reflecting the highly dynamic nature of the corresponding protostellar disks. The low-metallicity systems feature short but energetic episodes of mass accretion caused by infall of inward-migrating gaseous clumps that form via gravitational fragmentation of protostellar disks. These bursts seem to be more numerous and last longer in the Zâ =â 0.1â Z⊠models than in the Zâ =â 0.01â Z⊠case. Conclusions. Variable protostellar accretion with episodic bursts is not a particular feature of solar metallicity disks. It is also inherent to gravitationally unstable disks with metallicities up to 100 times lower than solar. © ESO 2020.