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xCOLD GASS: The Complete IRAM 30m Legacy Survey of Molecular Gas for Galaxy Evolution Studies

Saintonge, A; Catinella, B; Tacconi, LJ; Kauffmann, G; Genzel, R; Cortese, L; Dave, R; ... Roberts-Borsani, GW; + view all (2017) xCOLD GASS: The Complete IRAM 30m Legacy Survey of Molecular Gas for Galaxy Evolution Studies. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series , 233 (2) , Article 22. 10.3847/1538-4365/aa97e0. Green open access

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Abstract

We introduce xCOLD GASS, a legacy survey providing a census of molecular gas in the local universe. Building on the original COLD GASS survey, we present here the full sample of 532 galaxies with CO (1–0) measurements from the IRAM 30 m telescope. The sample is mass-selected in the redshift interval $0.01\lt z\lt 0.05$ from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and therefore representative of the local galaxy population with ${M}_{* }\ \gt {10}^{9}\,{M}_{\odot }$. The CO (1–0) flux measurements are complemented by observations of the CO (2–1) line with both the IRAM 30 m and APEX telescopes, H i observations from Arecibo, and photometry from SDSS, WISE, and GALEX. Combining the IRAM and APEX data, we find that the ratio of CO (2–1) to CO (1–0) luminosity for integrated measurements is ${r}_{21}=0.79\pm 0.03$, with no systematic variations across the sample. The CO (1–0) luminosity function is constructed and best fit with a Schechter function with parameters ${L}_{\mathrm{CO}}^{* }=(7.77\pm 2.11)\times {10}^{9}\,{\rm{K}}\,\mathrm{km}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}\,{\mathrm{pc}}^{2}$, ${\phi }^{* }=(9.84\pm 5.41)\times {10}^{-4}\,{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-3}$, and $\alpha =-1.19\pm 0.05$. With the sample now complete down to stellar masses of 109 ${M}_{\odot }$, we are able to extend our study of gas scaling relations and confirm that both molecular gas fractions (${f}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}$) and depletion timescale (${t}_{\mathrm{dep}}({{\rm{H}}}_{2})$) vary with specific star formation rate (or offset from the star formation main sequence) much more strongly than they depend on stellar mass. Comparing the xCOLD GASS results with outputs from hydrodynamic and semianalytic models, we highlight the constraining power of cold gas scaling relations on models of galaxy formation.

Type: Article
Title: xCOLD GASS: The Complete IRAM 30m Legacy Survey of Molecular Gas for Galaxy Evolution Studies
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4365/aa97e0
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/aa97e0
Language: English
Additional information: This is the published version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: galaxies: evolution; galaxies: ISM; galaxies: star formation; ISM: general
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10041245
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