2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The impact of galactic structure on star formation
| Project/Area Number |
20K14456
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| Research Institution | Hokkaido University |
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Principal Investigator |
Pettitt Alex 北海道大学, 高等教育推進機構, 助教 (40792693)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | galaxies / star formation / numerical simulation / interstellar medium / spiral arms |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The initial sweep of simulations has been completed at moderate resolution. Simulations show an excellent match to both the structure and kinematics of the targeted systems (NGC5055, NGC6946 and NGC7331). The first main paper on this work is progressing well, and we aim for submission over the summer. Our initial results show that each system does indeed exhibit a similar global star formation response, but that each also clearly differs at smaller scales. This highlights that the specific values of galactic shear and mass distribution in a given galaxy does play a role (if only a secondary one), but that ultimately stellar feedback regulates the star formation across the galaxy as a whole. These results will be valuable to the observational community who are studying such scales in nearby galaxies, and also to other theoretical efforts, particularly those interested in the effect of large-scale galactic structure/dynamics on cloud-scale material. The spiral arms in these galaxy models are also significantly different in each case, yet do not seem to play a huge role in altering the star formation in each disc, merely re-arranging where it is taking place. In addition, we have an international network of collaborators who are now working with the results of these simulations, with the first few publications already in the pipeline. Future work will probe smaller scales in each of these systems, compare/contrast further properties to their observed counterparts, and expand our targets to a wider range of galactic structures (e.g. strongly barred systems).
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Simulations at moderate resolution are complete, conforming to expected progress. In fact, due to being slightly ahead of schedule, multiple versions of each target galaxy have also been simulated to investigate the role of specific parameter choices. Work on publications also proceeds as planned. However, progress has definitely been slowed by the pandemic, in particular regarding code development for the next avenues of the project. Trips to visit collaborators overseas had to be cancelled, as were a number of relevant conferences, which made up a significant portion of the grant planned costs. The former impacted plans to make improvements to the code via in-situ development (which is much harder to do remotely and across timezones), and the later was detrimental to finding new avenues for collaborative ties.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
With the first sweep of simulations now completed, much higher-resolution versions are now being performed, aiming to probe the internal structure of star forming clouds. This requires an expanded stellar physics network, which is under development in collaboration with researchers in Japan, USA, and Canada. Computing time at high performance computing facilities necessary for the continued success of the project has been successfully acquired at Japan's CfCA and USA's XSEDE (via collaborators). Immediate follow-up papers will focus on the clustered nature of star formation and cloud properties in our initial galaxy sample, work on which is already underway. In 2021 there are a much greater number of remote conferences, so we expect it will be easier to make new collaborative ties and advertise the project than in 2020.
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| Causes of Carryover |
The main reason for cary-over funds is the lack of any international travel in FY2020. Funds were used for computing equipment, but a significant portion had been planned for use for travel to collaborators and to conferences, both of which were not permitted during the pandemic.
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[Journal Article] SEDIGISM-ATLASGAL: dense gas fraction and star formation efficiency across the Galactic disc2021
Author(s)
J. Urquhart, C. Figura, J. Cross, M. Wells, T. Moore, D. Eden, S. Ragan, A. Pettitt, A. Duarte-Cabral, D. Colombo, et al.
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Journal Title
MNRAS
Volume: 500
Pages: 3050-3063
DOI
Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
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[Journal Article] The SEDIGISM survey: First Data Release and overview of the Galactic structure2021
Author(s)
F. Schuller, J. Urquhart, T. Csengeri, D. Colombo, A. Durate-Cabral, A. Ginsburg, M. Mattern, A. Pettitt, F. Wyrowski, L. Anderson, et al.
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Journal Title
MNRAS
Volume: 500
Pages: 3064-3082
DOI
Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
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