The headlight cloud in NGC 628: An extreme giant molecular cloud in a typical galaxy disk

TL;DR

This study investigates an exceptionally massive molecular cloud in NGC 628, revealing its properties, feedback effects from young stars, and the influence of galactic environment on its evolution.

Contribution

It provides detailed characterization of a unique giant molecular cloud in a typical galaxy disk, highlighting the role of feedback and galactic dynamics in its development.

Findings

The cloud has a mass of 1-2×10^7 solar masses.

It hosts a young stellar population of about 2-4 Myr age.

Feedback from massive stars is likely destroying the cloud.

Abstract

Cloud-scale surveys of molecular gas reveal the link between molecular clouds properties and star formation (SF) across a range of galactic environments. Cloud populations in galaxy disks are considered to be representative of the `normal' SF. At high resolution, however, clouds with exceptional gas properties and SF activity may also be observed in normal disk environments. In this paper, we study the brightest cloud traced in CO emission in the disk of NGC628. The cloud is spatially coincident with an extremely bright HII region. We characterize its molecular gas properties and investigate how feedback and large-scale processes influence the properties of the molecular gas. High resolution CO ALMA observations are used to characterize its mass and dynamical state, which are compared to other clouds in NGC628. A LVG analysis is used to constrain the beam-diluted density and temperature of the molecular gas. We analyze the MUSE spectrum using Starburst99 to characterize the young stellar population associated with the HII region. The cloud is massive ($1-2\times10^7$M$_{\odot}$), with a beam-diluted density of $n_{\rm H_2}=5\times10^4$ cm$^{-3}$. It has a low virial parameter, suggesting that its CO emission may be overluminous due to heating by the HII region. A young ($2-4$ Myr), massive $3\times10^{5}$ M$_{\odot}$ stellar population is associated. We argue that the cloud is currently being destroyed by feedback from young massive stars. Due to the cloud's large mass, this phase of the cloud's evolution is long enough for the impact of feedback on the excitation of the gas to be observed. Its high mass may be related to its location at a spiral co-rotation radius, where gas experiences reduced galactic shear compared to other regions of the disk, and receives a sustained inflow of gas that can promote the cloud's mass growth.