Co Observations of Edge-on Galaxies. IV, NGC 4565: Radial Variation of the H2-to-Hi Ratio

Abstract

The edge-on galaxy NGC 4565 has been observed in the 12CO(J=1-0)-line emission using the Nobeyama 45-m telescope with an angular resolution of 15". We obtained a scan along the major axis for +/-5' (+/- 15 kpc) about the galactic center, and some scans perpendicular to the galactic plane. The radial density distribution shows a dense molecular gas ring of 5 kpc radius, which is associated with an HI ring. The molecular disk comprises two components: an unresolved thin and dense disk, and a thick disk (or a halo) extending to a height greater than 1.4 kpc. The position-velocity diagram shows that the general rotation of the entire galaxy is circular with a flat rotation curve. However, the radial distribution of molecular gas is asymmetric with respect to the galaxy center in the sense that the molecular gas is much richer in the NW side. We derived a radial variation of \htwo-to-(HI+ \htwo) density ratio, and found that int erstellar gas in the central 4 kpc region is almost entirely H2, while HI is dominant beyond 10 kpc. A similar HI-vs-\htwo\ behavior was found in the edge-on galaxy NGC 891.