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

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.