We studied the probability distribution function of the column density (N-PDF) of molecular clouds based on a fit with a multi-log-normal function using the Nobeyama 45-m Cygnus X CO survey data. We identified 124 molecular clouds in 13CO data using the DENDROGRAM and SCIMES algorithms. The N-PDF was constructed for 11 extended (≥ 0.4 deg2) molecular clouds of these identified clouds. We found that every N-PDF is well-fitted with one or two log-normal (LN) distributions. We investigated the distributions of the column density, C18O dense cores, and radio continuum source in each cloud and found that the N-PDF was less correlated with the star-forming activity. The LN N-PDF parameters showed two impressive features. First, the LN distribution at the low-density part had the same mean column density (∼1021.5 cm−2 ) for almost all the molecular clouds. Second, the wider LN distribution tended to show the lower mean density of the structures.

To understand the physical properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) in various scales, we should investigate it with pc-scale resolution over kpc scale coverage. Here, we report the sub-kpc scale Gas Density Histogram (GDH) of the Milky Way. GDH is a histogram of averaged density and corresponds to the probability density distribution (PDF) of gas volume density. We use galactic plain survey data (l =10∘− 50∘) at 12CO and 13CO (J = 1 − 0) obtained as a part of the FOREST Unbiased Galactic plane Imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45m telescope (FUGIN). With this method and data, we are free from spatial structure and molecular cloud identification. GDH can be well fitted with single or double log-normal distribution; which we call as the low-density log-normal (L-LN) and high-density log-normal (H-LN) components. We found both the H-LN fraction (fH) and L-LN width (σL) along the gas density axis show a coherent structure on the longitude-velocity diagram. It suggests that there is a relationship between the ISM property and kpc scale structure in the Milky Way.

“Gas Density Histogram (GDH)” is an observational counterpart of the probability density function (PDF) of the gas density of interstellar medium (ISM). We used 12CO data in (l, b) = (29°, 0) region from “FOREST unbiased galactic imaging survey with Nobeyama 45-m telescope (FUGIN)”, which is a large coverage survey in three CO (1-0) lines. Using the kinetic distance, we estimated the volume density of the voxel from the observed column density. The resultant GDHs of the inter-arm regions show lognormal or lognormal-like, but those in the spiral arm regions show flat-top shape.

In this proceeding paper, we introduce the recent results of Galactic maser astrometry by mainly focusing on those obtained with Japanese VLBI array VERA. So far we have obtained parallaxes for 86 sources including preliminary results, and combination with the data obtained with VLBA/BeSSeL provides astrometric results for 159 sources. With these most updated results we conduct preliminary determinations of Galactic fundamental parameters, obtaining R0 = 8.16 ± 0.26 kpc and Θ0 = 237 ± 8 km/s. We also derive the rotation curve of the Milky Way Galaxy and confirm the previous results that the rotation curve is fairly flat between 5 kpc and 16 kpc, while a remarkable deviation is seen toward the Galactic center region. In addition to the results on the Galactic structure, we also present brief overviews on other science topics related to masers conducted with VERA, and also discuss the future prospect of the project.

We present results from a high-resolution wide-field imaging observation of the central molecular zone (CMZ) in H13CO+J = (1 − 0) and SiO v=0, J = (2−1) emission lines by using the Nobeyama 45-m telescope in order to depict the high-density molecular gas mass distribution and explore molecular gas affected by interstellar shocks. We found a candidate for ongoing cloud-cloud collision in the Sgr B2 complex. This is identified as a hollow paraboloid-like structure in the l−b−v data cube of both emission lines. The central part of the feature is denser and warmer than the outer envelope and contains a vast amount of shocked molecular gas. These properties are consistent with those expected from simulations of cloud-cloud collisions in the CMZ.

We have measured the annual parallax of the water maser source associated with star forming region NGC2264 from observations with VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA). We detected masers at VLSR = 7.2 km s−1. We discussed its driving sources of detected maser spots. One of the maser spots was associated with a centimeter continuum source observed with VLA. Neither optical, infrared nor X-ray sources is catalogued near the spot. The other maser spot is located close to an X-ray source, although there is no optical or infrared counterpart. The proper motion of the former spot was (μα, μδ) = (23.91 ± 4.29, −29.81 ± 4.27) and the proper motion of latter spot was (μα, μδ) = (−0.96 ± 0.58, −6.05 ± 3.06). For the latter spot, the peculiar motion is ∼ 150 km s−1 and it has the high velocity and this may be a jet or an outflow from a young star. The observed parallax is 1.365 ± 0.098 mas, corresponding to the distance of 738+57−50 pc. This value is constant with the photometric distance of NGC2264 previously measured. The fitting result of the parallax is shown in figure 1. We also observed in NH3 (1,1), (2,2), (3,3) lines of NGC2264 with the Kashima 34m telescope. We estimated the star formation efficiency (SFE) of NGC2264 from the dense molecular mass of NH3 and the stellar mass calculated by Teixeira et al. (2012). The SFE is 9 – 12% which is consistent with previous results.

We performed 12CO(J = 2 − 1) and 13CO(J = 2 − 1) line surveys of the galactic plane using the AMANOGAWA telescope (Nakajima et al. 2007) which covers 5° ≤ l ≤ 180° on a 7'.5 grid. The telescope beamsize and velocity resolution are 8.7′ ± 0.4′ and 1.3 km s−1. The resultant rms noise level is typically 0.12 K in TA*. We found a linear correlation between 12CO(J = 2 − 1) and 12CO(J = 1 − 0) and a curved correlation between 12CO(J = 2 − 1) and 13CO (J = 2 − 1), although the intensity ratios of these three lines have intrinsic variation. These correlations can be reproduced with simple radiative transfer equations suggesting some restrictions on the physical quantities of molecular gas on a galactic scale.

We mapped the molecular cloud associated with the North American Nebula in the NH3 lines and the H2O maser using the Kashima 34-m telescope. The line ratio shows the molecular gas is cold. For the clumps and subclumps in the cloud we also estimate the star forming efficiency (SFE). The east end of the cloud shows the highest SEF, 0.62, and the other end is the lowest, 0.06. The 3 dimensional structure derived using the published Hα map suggests the east end is in the HII region and it should be a reason why the SFE is high there.

In the steady state, the probability density function (PDF) of the gaseous interstellar matter (ISM) can be observed as a gas density histogram (GDH) of all cells in the system. We made GDHs of the Milky Way Galaxy (MWG) using Galactic plane surveys in CO lines. We found that the GDH in the MWG is log-normal which suggests that the density structure of the molecular gas is a result of many stochastic processes. Using the Nobeyama CO atlas, we made GDHs of nearby galaxies but in column density. Although some galaxies show log-normal, the others show completely different shapes, suggesting that the density structure of galaxies may be different from galaxy to galaxy.

Since November 2003, we have monitored AGB candidates in infrared wavelengths with the Kagoshima 1m telescope. We present the latest results based on the data until June 2011. For each of 400 monitored AGB stars, we estimate the periods, amplitudes, and mean apparent magnitudes in K band. Based on the two color diagram we choose 259 objects as Miras. We use the period–luminosity relation to obtain distances to them. As results we show the 3 dimensional distribution of 259 Mira variables.

We present a distance measurement to the semi-regular variable star RX Bootis (RX Boo). Using the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA) telescope, we conducted astrometric observations of a water maser spot associated with RX Boo, as well as of the continuum reference source J1419+2706. Based on monitoring observations covering a full year, the annual parallax of RX Boo was measured at 7.31 ± 0.50 mas, corresponding to a distance of 136+10−9 pc. This distance uncertainty is smaller by a factor of two than those previously published, allowing us to determine the object's stellar properties more accurately. Using our distance, we can determine the absolute magnitude and discuss more precisely the locus of RX Boo on the period–luminosity (PL) relation. RX Boo exhibits two simultaneous pulsation periods and is located on the fundamental and first overtone Mira sequences of the PL relation. In addition, we calculated the radius and mass of the star.

We are conducting a survey of the CO J=2-1 line emission in the southern Milky Way (the Tokyo-Onsala-ESO-Calán Galactic CO survey), using the 60-cm radio telescope (VST2) in La Silla, Chile. It is combined with the northern survey made with the identical telescope (VST1) at Nobeyama (e.g., Sakamoto et al. 1995), and is directly comparable with the Columbia survey of the CO J=1-0 emission (e.g., Dame et al. 1987).

Most of observational researches on molecular gas in galaxies have focused on the two-dimensional distributions in galactic disks so far. In order to investigate vertical structure of the galactic disk and the disk-halo interaction we need high-resolution observations of edge-on galaxies.

So we observed the nearest edge-on galaxy, NGC 891, using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA). Its distance is estimated to be 8.9 Mpc using the Tully-Fisher relation and H-band photometric data. The synthesized beamsize was 4.5” x 4.4” and the field of view due to attenuation of the element antenna (Handa et al. 1992). The field center is 90”-offset from the center of the galaxy along the major axis toward the northern side, where the CO intensity has a local maximum (Sofue et al. 1987). After the standard data reduction procedure in AIPS, including CLEAN, we obtained 10 channel-maps with a 19.5 km s−1 velocity width from 289.8 km s−1 to 465.2 km s−1 with respect to the local standard of rest.

In the integrated intensity map a narrow CO emission ridge is seen (Figure 1). It is an edge-on view of molecular gas disk of the galaxy. The confinement of the CO emission in the thin disk suggests that most of the molecular gas is belonging to the population-I objects like in our Galaxy. The apparent thickness of the ridge is about 7”, which means that the deconvolved width is about 6” or 270 pc (FWHM). The position-velocity diagram averaged along the major axis over the field of view shows no systematic velocity gradient along the minor axis (Figure 2). It means that the deconvolved thickness of the CO disk is intrinsic. This width is broader than that of our Galaxy by factor 2. The geometrically thick CO disk of NGC 891 may be due to active star formation in the disk.

M83 is the best sample to investigate gas response to bar potential because it is one of the nearest galaxy with a pronounced bar structure (distance=3.7 Mpc). Handa et al. (1990) observed it with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope in CO(J=1-0) and found concentration of the CO emission to the dust lanes along the bar and non-circular rotation. However we need better spatial resolution in order to investigate kinematics and distribution of molecular gas in the nuclear region. So we observe the central region of M83 using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array. The synthesized beamsize was 12″ × 6″ and frequency coverage was 325 km s-1.

We report a large scale mapping observation of the Galactic center region in the CO (J=2-1) line using the Tokyo-NRO 60cm survey telescope. Distribution of the CO (J=2-1) emission in the I-V plane suggests that molecular clouds forms a huge complex (Nuclear Molecular cloud Complex, NMC). Tracers of star formation activities in the last 106-108 years show that star formation has occured in a ring ~ 100 pc in radius. Relative to this Star Forming Ring, the molecular gas is distributed mainly on the positive longitude side. This may indicate that much of the gas in NMC is in transient orbit to fall into the star forming ring or to the nucleus in the near future.

The first results of large-area mapping observations of nearby giant molecular clouds in the CO(J=2-1) emission are presented. The CO(J=2-1)/CO(J=1-0) luminosity ratio is 0.75 and 0.62 for the Orion A and B clouds, respectively. These values are consistent with those observed typically in disks of galaxies (−0.6), and are significantly lower than large values (≳1) often observed in active star-forming regions in galaxies. Active star-forming regions in galaxies cannot be explained by ensemble of Orion-like GMCs; they may contain a different population of molecular clouds with high J-2-1/J=1-0 luminosity ratio.

We present the kinematics and dynamics of molecular gas in the almost entire disk (>5′×5') of the grand-design spiral galaxy M51, derived from CO(J=1−0) observations with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope. The spatial resolution of 17″, which corresponds to 790pc at the distance of M51 (9.6 Mpc), is enough to distinguish between a spiral arm and an interarm; therefore a clear spiral structure (cf Nakai et al, this conference) and large streaming motions of the molecular gas were revealed.

A number of starburst galaxies are included in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies (Arp 1966) which is the collection of peculiar-morphology galaxies showing mutual tidal interaction. A scenario of starburst can be summarized as follows (e.g. Sofue 1987, Noguchi 1988). Tidal interaction between galaxies causes an oval disturbance in the gravitational potential of a galaxy. The oval disturbance causes a bar in the innermost region of the galaxy. By this bar a galactic shock wave is excited, which results in rapid accretion of gas toward the central region. The accreted gas produces a dense ring or a core of molecular gas in the central region, from which massive stars are born. Intense UV radiation from the stars heats dust in the dense molecular gas core/ring, and the dust emits strong FIR emission.

The Sgr B2 region was mapped at 43 GHz (λ = 6.9 mm) with the 45m radio telescope of Nobeyama Radio Observatory. The observing parameters were: a) half power beamwidth 38″, b) pointing accuracy better than 10″, c) central frequency 43.0 GHz, d) bandwidth 500 MHz, and e) system noise temperature 400 K; and the observational aspects were: a) mapping with one polarization, b) liquid-nitrogen cooled load switching and c) reduction by NOD-2 programme. The obtained map is shown in Figure 1. Sgr B2 is resolved into several components which correspond to those by Martin and Downes (1972) and Downes et al. (1978). But the component at RA = 17h44m11.8s Dec. = −28°23′55″ at 1950 is not seen in Martin and Downes (1972) nor in the 5 GHz map of Downes et al. (1978), although the feature is seen in the 10.7 GHz map of Downes et al. (1978). The components derived from the map in Figure 1 by a morphological estimate are listed in Table 1. The total flux density of the region is 146J±30 Jy. The intensity calibration was made by observing NGC 7027.

We have mapped the nuclear region of an Scd galaxy IC 342 in the CO (J = 1-0) emission with an angular resolution of 15″. This galaxy has a bright optical nucleus with a dark lane elongated in the north-south direction. A prominent molecular bar which has been discovered by Lo et al. (1984) using the Owens Valley Interferometer lies just on the dark lane. Their CO map was spatially limited by the primary beam pattern and the velocity coverage of their spectrometer was not sufficient. It is not known, therefore, whether the molecular bar is connected to the outer spiral arms or not. We made the highest resolution CO map accessible by a single-dish telescope with a sufficient velocity coverage.