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The Role of Pressure in GMC Formation II: The H_2 - Pressure Relation

5 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

5 Pith papers citing it
abstract

We show that the ratio of molecular to atomic gas in galaxies is determined by hydrostatic pressure and that the relation between the two is nearly linear. The pressure relation is shown to be good over three orders of magnitude for 14 galaxies including dwarfs, HI-rich, and H_2-rich galaxies as well as the Milky Way. The sample spans a factor of five in mean metallicity. The rms scatter of individual points of the relation is only about a factor of two for all the galaxies, though some show much more scatter than others. Using these results, we propose a modified star formation prescription based on pressure determining the degree to which the ISM is molecular. The formulation is different in high and low pressure regimes defined by whether the gas is primarily atomic or primarily molecular. This formulation can be implemented in simulations and provides a more appropriate treatment of the outer regions of spiral galaxies and molecule-poor systems such as dwarf irregulars and damped Lyman-alpha systems.

years

2026 5

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Showing 5 of 5 citing papers.

  • Multiphase images of a powerful supernova-driven wind in the early Universe astro-ph.GA · 2026-06-09 · unverdicted · none · ref 137 · internal anchor

    Resolved multiphase observations reveal a supernova-driven wind in a z=5.3 galaxy removing gas at twice the star-formation rate, potentially quenching it within 100 Myr and matching local superwind properties.

  • Empirical estimates of how massive galaxies can be in {\Lambda}CDM astro-ph.GA · 2026-05-08 · conditional · none · ref 174 · internal anchor

    Corrected empirical limits show the most massive galaxies never exceed the theoretical baryonic maximum of 0.16 times halo virial mass, keeping observations consistent with LambdaCDM at all redshifts.

  • Grain-size evolution and rapid dust growth in high-redshift galaxies astro-ph.GA · 2026-06-04 · conditional · none · ref 164 · internal anchor

    A multiphase ISM grain-size model with low supernova dust yield reproduces observed dust-to-stellar mass ratios and UV luminosity functions at z=7-12 by letting small grains seed rapid metal accretion.

  • HI Simulations for Cosmology with the SKA Observatory astro-ph.CO · 2026-06-24 · unverdicted · none · ref 92 · internal anchor

    Overview of HI modeling methods finds consistency in cosmic HI density but systematic differences in HI-halo mass relation shape and redshift evolution.

  • Cosmological Galaxy Formation Modelling in the Era of the Square Kilometre Array astro-ph.GA · 2026-06-24 · unverdicted · none · ref 167 · internal anchor

    Review of state-of-the-art cosmological galaxy formation models for HI, molecular gas and radio continuum in preparation for SKA, advocating coordinated multi-scale simulations, forward modelling and AI emulators.