Evolving Starburst Modeling of FIR/sub-mm/mm Line Emission. III. Application to Nearby Luminous Infrared Galaxies

Abstract

In a previous work, we showed that the observed FIR/sub-mm/mm line spectra of a starburst galaxy (M 82) can be successfully modeled in terms of the evolutionary scheme of an ensemble of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and shells, and such studies can usefully constrain the age(s) or star formation history of a starburst galaxy. In this paper we present a preliminary study of using the template of an ensemble of evolving GMCs/shells we developed for M 82. we apply the model to represent various stages of starburst evolution in a well known sample of nearby luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs). In this way, we attempt to interpret the relationship between the degree of molecular excitation and ratio of far-infrared (FIR) to $^{12}$CO (or simply CO) luminosity to possibly reflect different stages of the evolution of star-forming activity within their nuclear regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJ, 16 pages, 4 figures