New ALMA constraints on the star-forming interstellar medium at low metallicity: a 50 pc view of the blue compact dwarf galaxy SBS 0335−052
2017
Properties of the cold interstellar medium of low-metallicity galaxies are not well known due
to the faintness and extremely small scale on which emission is expected. We present deep
ALMAband 6 (230 GHz) observations of the nearby, low-metallicity (12 + log(O/H) = 7.25)
blue compact dwarf galaxy SBS 0335−052 at an unprecedented resolution of 0.2 arcsec
(52 pc). The 12CO J = 2→1 line is not detected and we report a 3σ upper limit of
LCO(2–1) = 3.6 × 104 K km s−1 pc2. Assuming that molecular gas is converted into stars with
a given depletion time, ranging from 0.02 to 2 Gyr, we find lower limits on the CO-to-H2
conversion factor αCO in the range 102–104 M� pc−2 (K km s−1)−1. The continuum emission
is detected and resolved over the two main super star clusters. Re-analysis of the IR–radio
spectral energy distribution suggests that the mm-fluxes are not only free–free emission but
are most likely also associated with a cold dust component coincident with the position of the
brightest cluster.With standard dust properties, we estimate its mass to be as large as 105 M�.
Both line and continuum results suggest the presence of a large cold gas reservoir unseen in
CO even with ALMA.
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