Narayanan, DesikaCox, Thomas J.Hernquist, Lars2019-09-202008-07-10Narayanan, Desika, Thomas J. Cox, and Lars Hernquist. 2008. “The Star Formation Rate-Dense Gas Relation in the Nuclei of Nearby Galaxies.” The Astrophysical Journal 681 (2): L77–80. https://doi.org/10.1086/590342.0004-637X1538-4357http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41381685We investigate the relationship between the star formation rate (SFR) and dense molecular gas mass in the nuclei of galaxies. To do this, we utilize the observed 850 mu m luminosity as a proxy for the infrared luminosity (L-IR) and SFR, and we correlate this with the observed CO(J = 3-2) luminosity. We find tentative evidence that the L-IR-CO (J = 3-2) index is similar to the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) index (N approximate to 1.5) in the central similar to 1.7 kpc of galaxies, and it flattens to a roughly linear index when including emission from the entire galaxy. This result may imply that the volumetric Schmidt relation is the underlying driver behind the observed SFR-dense gas correlations, and it provides tentative confirmation for recent numerical models. While the data exclude the possibility of a constant L-IR-CO(J = 3-2) index for both galaxy nuclei and global measurements at the similar to 80% confidence level, the considerable error bars cannot preclude alternative interpretations.en-USJournal Article2019-09-2010.1086/590342