Erik Rosolowsky edited Correlations_of_these_macroscopic_properties__.tex  about 8 years ago

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Correlations of these macroscopic properties give clues to the nature of the molecular medium. We compare the properties of the molecular clouds to those seen in the Milky Way study of \citet[][;S87]{Solomon_1987} because that work measured GMC properties using similar techniques as we do here. In Figure XXX, \ref{larson_figure},  we correlate the GMC properties and compare the result to the trend lines trends  seen in the S87 data. First, we see (panel a)  that there is good agreement between the virial and luminous masses in these clouds, and this is seen throughout the system. We code color  each datum with by  the galactocentric assuming each radius to highlight the variation in  cloud properties across the face of the disk. The most massive clouds are found in the center of the galaxy, but these extreme clouds still show good agreement between the two mass estimates. There is significant scatter in the relationship, though the mean value is displaced slightly below the locus of equality. Systematic errors could lead to this offset including an incorrect distance measurement to the galaxy or a global offset in the CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor. There is also significant scatter in the correlation that are likely in excess of the measurement errors. Both mass estimates will be subject to $\sim 0.3\mathrm{ dex}$ uncertainties, but even in high quality data, there remains about 1 dex of scatter \cite{Heyer_2009}. At the low signal-to-noise end, some points lie a factor of $\sim 30$ off the locus of equality, likely arising from the instability of the radius.  The figure shows that the objects we identify can be associated with Milky Way molecular clouds. They have comparable sizes and mass scales, and they show the same underlying