Erik Muller (Nagoya University)

The unusual molecular Magellanic Clouds; Exploring molecular chemistry in early-universe analogues - Erik Muller Colloquium

ATNF Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

I will review some of the more recent and ongoing studies of the
molecular component in the Magellanic System. As our nearest example
of an interacting group, the Magellanic System provides a spectacular
and unique opportunity to examine the evolution of a poorly-enriched,
perturbed and evolving ISM with resolutions that are impossible
anywhere else in the Universe.
I will discuss a few of the more remarkable outcomes from the
Magellanic System wide NANTEN CO survey; outlining the timescales for
the evolutionary stages of stellar groups forming out of their natal
molecular clouds, and I will describe the utility, in the context of
the large Magellanic Cloud , of a large-gradient velocity analysis
used to help estimate molecular cloud temperature and density.
I will also present some of the more exciting details from the
recently completed MAGMA project, including a probe of derived cloud
properties (virial mass, x-factor) and ambient evolutionary
conditions, the association of CO and HI, before detailing the the
unique properties of the molecular clouds within the north of the
Small Magellanic Cloud, which hosts an unusually compact and under-
luminous molecular cloud population - distinct from the southern-SMC
population. Finally, I will present the latest of an in-progress
exploration into the very weak, and very small molecular clouds with
in the most fascinating component within the Magellanic System - the
Magellanic Bridge, and present, for the first time, the most concrete
evidence for a native and in-situ forming stellar population.