Does the LFIR-LHCN correlation hold for low LFIR isolated galaxies?

International conference “Galaxies in Isolation: Exploring Nature vs. Nurture” held in Granada (Spain), May 12–15, 2009.Low LFIR Isolated Galaxies (IGs) from the AMIGA sample have low level of Star Formation (SF) activity. We observed the HCN(1-0) emission in a sample of IGs in order to test whether they follow the tight relation between LHCN and LFIR found for galaxies with more active SF

Interstellar medium in nearby elliptical radio galaxies

Incluye Resumen y Conclusiones escritos en inglés y españolTesis Univ. Granada. Departamento de Física Teórica y del Cosmos. Leída el 9 de abril de 201

Is there LFIR-LHCN correlation for low LFIR isolated galaxies?

We observed HCN(1-0) in 15 well isolated galaxies where 9 galaxies were clearly detected. The aim of these observations is to confirm the relationship between the (dense) molecular gas and star formation (SF) activity through the correlation found by [3][4] between the FIR and HCN luminosity. We find that the detected galaxies in HCN(1-9) have a lower HCN luminosity than the expected from the FIR-HCN correlation. This departure from the correlation may be due to an extended emission of the HCN(1-0) line in the galaxies. To prove this we mapped 4 galaxies that were clearly detected in HCN(1-0) at the center of the galaxy to measure their spatial extension and to get a more precise measurement of the total HCN (1-0) luminosity. The HCN(1-0) luminosity was compared to the CO(1-0) luminosity finding a ratio that implies that de galaxies in the sample have a low level of activity