Sensitive CO(1-0) Survey in Pegasus-Pisces Reduces CO-Dark Gas Inventory by Factor of Two

TL;DR

This study used high-sensitivity CO(1-0) observations in a diffuse molecular cloud to double the detectable molecular gas, significantly reducing the estimated amount of dark gas in the Pegasus-Pisces region.

Contribution

It demonstrates that sensitive CO(1-0) observations can substantially increase detectable molecular gas in diffuse clouds, refining dark gas estimates.

Findings

CO detection increased by a factor of two

Dark gas fraction reduced from 58% to ~30%

Results align with models for Giant Molecular Clouds

Abstract

We conducted high-sensitivity, high-velocity resolution CO(1-0) observations in a region containing a portion of the diffuse molecular cloud MBM 53 to determine whether weak CO emission was present. The results of our observations increase the amount of CO-detectable molecular gas in the region by a factor of two. The increased molecular mass for the cloud, if applicable to the molecular clouds in the entire Pegasus-Pisces region, decreases the dark molecular gas content from 58% of the total H2 mass to ~ 30%. If the results for MBM53 are applicable to other diffuse clouds, then the fraction of dark gas directly detectable via sensitive CO(1-0) observations in diffuse molecular clouds is similar to that predicted by models for Giant Molecular Clouds.