The evolution of giant molecular clouds (GMCs), which are the main sites of star formation, is essential for unraveling how stars form and how galaxies evolve. We analyzed the M33 CO(J = 2–1) data with spatial resolution of 39 pc obtained by ALMA-ACA 7 m array combined with IRAM 30 m. We identified 736 GMCs and classified them into three types; Type I: associated with no Hii regions, Type II: associated with Hii regions with the Hα luminosity L(Hα) < 1037.5 erg s-1, Type III: associated with Hii regions with L(Hα) > 1037.5erg s-1. We found that mass, size, and velocity dispersion of GMCs slightly increase in the order of Type I, II, and III GMCs. Type III GMCs mainly exist in the spiral arm, while many of Type I and Type II GMCs are distributed in the inter-arm. Assuming that the star formation proceeds steadily, we roughly estimated the total GMC lifetime of 30 Myr.

To investigate molecular composition of low-metallicity environments, we conducted spectral line survey observations in the 3 mm band toward three dwarf galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud, IC 10, and NGC 6822 with the Mopra 22 m, the Nobeyama 45 m and the IRAM 30 m, respectively. The rotational transitions of CCH, HCN, HCO+, HNC, CS, SO, 13CO, and 12CO were detected in all three galaxies. We found that the spectral intensity patterns are similar to one another regardless of star formation activities. Compared with Solar-metallicity environments, the molecular compositions of dwarf galaxies are characterized by (1) deficient nitrogen-bearing molecules and (2) enhanced CCH and suppressed CH3OH. These are interpreted (1) as a direct consequence of the lower elemental abundance of nitrogen, and (2) as a consequence of extended photon dominated regions in cloud peripheries due to the lower abundance of dust grains, respectively.

The Magellanic Clouds offer the opportunity to obtain a spatially resolved view of external galaxies at reduced metallicity with no distance ambiguity. Our ALMA observations of the active star-forming region N83C in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) revealed subparsec-scale molecular structures in 12CO and 13CO (2-1) emission Muraoka et al. (2017). We found strong CO peaks associated with Young Stellar Objects(YSOs) and derived a typical gas density of ∽104 cm−3 and gas temperature of 40-60 K from the excitation analysis. The high gas density and temperature are presumably due to the effect of the HII region under the low-metallicity environment. We have found that the column density ratios N(CI)/N(CO) are generally high throughout the cloud compared with the Galaxy, ranging from 0.2 to 2.0. A peak of the ratio is observed toward a CO peak associated with a massive protostar.

High-mass stars usually form in giant molecular clouds (GMCs) as part of a young stellar cluster, but some isolated O/B stars are observed. What are the initial conditions that lead to the formation of these objects? The aim of this study is to measure the distribution and basic physical properties of the neutral gas associated with isolated intermediate- and high-mass young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

As part of the SAGE Spitzer Legacy program for the LMC, we have identified and confirmed YSOs using Spitzer IRAC photometry and IRS spectroscopy. By examining the spatial coincidence between the YSOs and 12CO(1–0) emission detected by the NANTEN mapping survey, we identified more than one hundred intermediate/massive YSOs in the LMC that appear to be isolated, i.e. not associated with CO emission. Deeper follow-up CO observations by our team with the higher resolution by Mopra Telescope (beam=30”) detected CO emission at the YSO positions for ~80% of the isolated LMC YSOs. We obtained ALMA data of some of the targets during Cycle 2. We targeted a small but representative (in terms of their association with neutral gas tracers) sample of the isolated high-mass YSOs that we have been studying in the LMC. All of our 12 targets are separated by more than 200 pc from known CO clouds. Our analysis of the ALMA data shows that a compact molecular cloud whose mass is a few thousand solar masses or smaller is associated with most of the YSOs.

It is crucially important to observe dense cores in order to investigate the initial condition of star formation since protostars are formed via dynamical collapse of dense cores, inhering the physical properties from their natal dense cores. Here we present the results of ALMA Cycle 0 and Cycle 1 observations of dust continuum emission and molecular rotational lines toward a dense core, MC27 (aka L1521F), which is considered to be very close to the first protostellar core phase. We revealed the spatial/velocity structures of the core are very complex and and suggest that the star formation is highly dynamical.

We present results from a Mopra 7 mm-wavelength survey that targeted the dense gas-tracing CS(1-0) transition towards the young γ-ray-bright supernova remnant, RX J1713.7–3946 (SNR G 347.3−0.5). In a hadronic γ-ray emission scenario, where cosmic ray (CR) protons interact with gas to produce the observed γ-ray emission, the mass of potential CR target material is an important factor. We summarise newly discovered dense gas components, towards Cores G and L, and Clumps N1, N2, N3, and T1, which have masses of 1 – 104 M⊙. We argue that these components are not likely to contribute significantly to γ-ray emission in a hadronic γ-ray emission scenario. This would be the case if RX J1713.7–3946 were at either the currently favoured distance of ~1 kpc or an alternate distance (as suggested in some previous studies) of ~6 kpc.

This survey also targeted the shock-tracing SiO molecule. Although no SiO emission corresponding to the RX J1713.7–3946 shock was observed, vibrationally excited SiO(1-0) maser emission was discovered towards what may be an evolved star. Observations taken 1 yr apart confirmed a transient nature, since the intensity, line-width, and central velocity of SiO(J = 1-0,v = 1,2) emission varied significantly.

We present the first results of the new CO J = (2 − 1) observations toward the central molecular zone (CMZ) using the NANTEN2 telescope at an angular resolution of 100″. Large area coverage of 4° × 2° in l and b and a high angular resolution of 100″ enable us to investigate detailed structures of the molecular gas in the CMZ including peculiar molecular filaments perpendicularly to the Galactic plane to b > |0.5°|. The major components of the CMZ, e.g., Sgr A, Sgr B and Sgr C cloud complexes, show high CO J = (2 − 1)/J = (1 − 0) ratios around 0.9, indicating highly excited conditions of the molecular gas, while the local foreground components show less than 0.4. The molecular filaments show the typical ratios of 0.6–0.7 indicate that they are indeed located in the Galactic center.

We revealed a statistically significant clustering in the all sky distribution of AKARI-WISE young stellar objects with large groups of elongated and bush types.

Physical parameters were derived for 100 young stellar objects in the TAPO region.

Galactic-scale studies of γ-rays and sub-mm radiation suggest that a significant amount of neutral interstellar medium is not detectable either in CO or HI (Grenier et al. 2005; Ade et al. 2011). This component is called “dark gas”. Here we argue that cool and dense atomic gas without molecules is responsible for the dark gas. This interpretation is supported by a recent finding of cool HI gas corresponding to the TeV γ-ray shell in the SNR RX J1713.7-3946 (Fukui et al. 2011). Such HI gas is not recognized under a usual assumption of optically thin HI emission but is identified by a careful analysis considering optically thick HI. The typical column density of such HI gas is a few times 1021 cm−2 and is also identified as visual extinction.

We report the results of the submillimeter observations with the ASTE 10 m telescope toward the giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the Magellanic Clouds to reveal the physical properties of dense molecular gas, the principle sites of star and cluster formation. Six GMCs in the Large Magellanic Cloud have been mapped in the 12CO(J = 3 − 2) transition and 32 clumps are identified in these GMCs at a resolution of 5 pc. These data are combined with 12CO(J = 1 − 0) and 13CO(J = 1 − 0) results and compared with LVG calculations to derive the density and temperature of clumps. The derived density and temperature are distributed in wide ranges. We have made small mapping observations in the 13CO(J = 3 − 2) transition toward 9 representative peak positions of clumps to determine the density and temperature of clumps. These physical properties are constrained well and there are differences in density and temperature among clumps. We suggest that these differences of clump properties represent an evolutionary sequence of GMCs in terms of density increase leading to star formation.

We present the first results of the AKARI Infrared Camera near-infrared spectroscopic survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The circumstellar material of young stellar objects (YSOs) are affected by galactic environments such as a metallicity or radiation field. Ices control the chemical balance of circumstellar environments of embedded YSOs. We detected absorption features of the H2O ice 3.05 μm and the CO2 ice 4.27 μm stretching mode toward seven massive YSOs in the LMC. This is the first detection of the 4.27 μm CO2 ice feature toward extragalactic YSOs. The present samples are for the first time spectroscopically confirmed to be YSOs. We used a curve-of-growth method to evaluate the column densities of the ices and derived the CO2/H2O ratio to be 0.45±0.17. This is clearly higher than that seen in Galactic massive YSOs (0.17±0.03). We suggest that the strong ultraviolet radiation field and/or the high dust temperature in the LMC may be responsible for the observed high CO2 ice abundance.

We have carried out the mid-infrared slit spectroscopic observations of sources in the LMC and in NGC 6946 with AKARI/IRC. We investigate the properties of the UIR bands in terms of the star forming activities. We find systematically larger ratios of UIR bands in 6–9 μm to 11.2 μm band in active star forming regions than in the quiet regions. This behavior is consistent with the photo-ionization model of PAHs. Our results suggest that the ratios of UIR bands in 6–9 μm to 11.2 μm band can be used as more efficient and vigorous tools to measure the extent of on-going star formation in remote galaxies rather than just the presence or absence of the features themselves.

Large-scale CO observations with the millimeter/submillimeter telescope NANTEN toward a whole FIR loop-like structure whose angular extent is ~20° × 20° around (l, b) ~(109°, − 45°) in Pegasus have been carried out in the 12CO (J = 1 − 0) at 4′ – 8′ grid spacing and the 12CO emitting region in the 13CO (J=1–0) at 2′ grid spacing. The diameter corresponds to ~25 pc at a distance of 100 pc, adopted from that of the star HD886(B2IV) near the center of the loop.