Physical Conditions and Spatial Structure in the Molecular Interstellar
Medium of M33
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abstract
In this review, I discuss recent detailed studies of individual molecular
clouds in M33 in higher rotational transitions of CO, 13CO, and the fine
structure line of atomic carbon. These data reveal that the temperature and
density of the molecular gas is correlated with the presence of nearby massive
star formation, with clouds with more intense star formation having higher
temperatures and lower densities. This effect is most likely due to post-star
formation processing of the molecular gas. A comparison of 13CO observations
for M33 and individual molecular clouds in the Milky Way suggests that a
significant fraction of the molecular interstellar medium resides in low column
density regions and accounts for 30-60% of the CO luminosity. Finally, a
detailed map of a single molecular cloud in the giant HII region NGC 604
reveals an offset between the atomic carbon and CO emission, which indicates
that the dominant source of atomic carbon in this cloud is likely
photodissociation of CO by ultraviolet photons from the massive stars. A
complete map of the CO emission in M33 would be extremely helpful to guide
further detailed studies.
