ALCHEMI: Results from the ALMA Comprehensive High-resolution Extragalactic Molecular Inventory of NGC253

¹ National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475, USA
² Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK

^* e-mail: jeff.mangum@nrao.edu
^** e-mail: viti@strw.leidenuniv.nl
^a Sergio Martín (ESO); Nanase Harada (NAOJ); Rebeca Aladro (MPIfR); Erica Behrens (Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia); Laura Colzi (INAF); Kimberly L. Emig (NRAO); Santiago García-Burillo (OAN-IGN); Christian Henkel (MPIfR); Rubén Herrero-Illana (ESO); Jonathan Holdship (Leiden Observatory/UCL); Ko-Yun Huang (Leiden Observatory); P. K. Humire (MPIfR); Leslie K. Hunt (INAF); Takuma Izumi (NAOJ); Kotaro Kohno (University of Tokyo); David S. Meier (NMT); Sebastien Muller (Chalmers University of Technology); Kouichiro Nakanishi (NAOJ); Víctor M. Rivilla (CSIC-INTA); Kazushi Sakamoto (ASIAA); Kunihiko Tanaka (Keio University); Paul P. van der Werf (Leiden Observatory); Yuki Yoshimura (University of Tokyo)

Published online: 7 September 2022

Abstract

The star formation process in galaxies drives their evolution. The physical conditions which drive the star formation process in galaxies are studied using measurements of atomic and molecular species found in the dense has from which stars form in galaxies. Molecular emission measurements at millimeter/submillimeter wavelengths have revealed the molecular complexity of the star formation regions in galaxies. In a recent study of the nearby starburst galaxy NGC253 using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the ALMA Comprehensive High-resolution Extragalactic Molecular Inventory (ALCHEMI) large program imaged the continuum and spectral line emission from the central molecular zone (CMZ) of this starburst galaxy. In this article we summarize the current results derived from the ALCHEMI large program. Many of these studies have focused on clarifying the state of dense gas heating processes in the NGC253 CMZ.