Carbon monoxide in an extremely metal-poor galaxy

Yong Shi (), Junzhi Wang, Zhi-Yu Zhang, Yu Gao, Cai-Na Hao, Xiao-Yang Xia and Qiusheng Gu
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Yong Shi: School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University
Junzhi Wang: Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhi-Yu Zhang: Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory
Yu Gao: Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Cai-Na Hao: Tianjin Astrophysics Center, Tianjin Normal University
Xiao-Yang Xia: Tianjin Astrophysics Center, Tianjin Normal University
Qiusheng Gu: School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-5

Abstract: Abstract Extremely metal-poor galaxies with metallicity below 10% of the solar value in the local universe are the best analogues to investigating the interstellar medium at a quasi-primitive environment in the early universe. In spite of the ongoing formation of stars in these galaxies, the presence of molecular gas (which is known to provide the material reservoir for star formation in galaxies such as our Milky Way) remains unclear. Here we report the detection of carbon monoxide (CO), the primary tracer of molecular gas, in a galaxy with 7% solar metallicity, with additional detections in two galaxies at higher metallicities. Such detections offer direct evidence for the existence of molecular gas in these galaxies that contain few metals. Using archived infrared data, it is shown that the molecular gas mass per CO luminosity at extremely low metallicity is approximately one-thousand times the Milky Way value.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13789

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