The Gas-to-Dust Ratio Investigation in the Massive Star-Forming region M17

TL;DR

This study investigates the variation of the gas-to-dust ratio in the massive star-forming region M17, revealing significant increases in GDR in denser areas compared to typical Milky Way values, using CO emission and infrared extinction data.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of GDR variation in M17, highlighting the impact of dense regions and massive stars on gas and dust properties.

Findings

GDR increases significantly in dense regions (${A_V} extgreater 10$ mag).

GDR values in dense areas are about three times higher than Milky Way averages.

The study compares GDR variations with previous research and discusses influencing factors.

Abstract

M17 is a well-known massive star-forming region, and its Gas-to-Dust Ratio (GDR) may vary significantly compared to the other areas. The mass of gas can be traced by the ${\rm CO}$ emission observed in the \emph{Milky Way Imaging Scroll Painting (MWISP) project}. The dust mass can be traced by analyzing the interstellar extinction magnitude obtained from the \emph{United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT)}. We computed the ratio ${W({\rm CO})/A_V}$: for ${A_V \le }$ 10 mag, ${{ W(^{12}{\rm CO})/ A_V}= (6.27 \pm 0.19)}$ ${\mathrm{{K \cdot km/s} \cdot mag^{-1}}}$ and ${{ W(^{13}{\rm CO})/ A_V} = (0.75 \pm 0.72)}$ ${ \mathrm{{K \cdot km/s} \cdot mag^{-1}}}$; whereas for ${{A_V} \ge 10}$ mag, ${{ W(^{12}{\rm CO})/ A_V} = (15.8 \pm 0.06) }$ ${\mathrm{{K \cdot km/s} \cdot mag^{-1}}}$ and ${{ W(^{13}{\rm CO})/ A_V} = (3.11 \pm 0.25)}$ ${ \mathrm{{K \cdot km/s} \cdot mag^{-1}}}$. Then, we converted the ${W({\rm CO})/A_V}$ into ${N(\rm H)/A_V}$. Using the WD01 model, we derived the GDR: for ${A_V \le }$ 10 mag, the GDRs were ${118 \pm 9}$ for ${^{12}{\rm CO}}$ and ${83 \pm 62}$ for ${^{13}{\rm CO}}$, comparable to those of the Milky Way; however, for ${A_V \ge }$ 10 mag, the GDRs increased significantly to ${296 \pm 3}$ for ${^{12}{\rm CO}}$ and ${387 \pm 40}$ for ${^{13}{\rm CO}}$, approximately three times higher than those of the Milky Way. In the discussion, we compared the results of this work with previous studies and provided a detailed discussion of the influence of massive stars and other factors on GDR.