Star formation drivers across the M33 disk

Abstract

We investigate the star formation process across the disk of M33 using a multiwavelength dataset and disk dynamics. We computed numerically equilibrium values of gas densities and scale heights across the disk, taking into account dark matter and testing several analytic approximations that are often used to estimate these variables and the hydrostatic pressure. Orthogonal regressions and hierarchical Bayesian models, as well as random forest (RF) analyses, were used to establish the fundamental relations at physical scales from 160~pc to 1~kpc. The gas pressure, is the main driver of the star formation rate (SFR) surface density throughout the whole star-forming disk of M33. High-pressure regions enhance the atomic-to-molecular gas conversion, with the molecular hydrogen mass surface density being tightly correlated to pressure and a uniform scaling law throughout the M33 disk. The relation between pressure and SFR surface density differs, showing a change in slope from the inner to the outer disk. Scaling laws do not depend on the physical scale and brings out an intrinsic scatter linked to variations in the efficiency and relative age of the molecular gas-to-stars conversion. In the inner disk, where spiral arms are present and the stellar surface density dominates gravity, the pressure and SFR surface densidy establish an almost linear correlation with a smaller dispersion than that of the molecular gas -- SFR surface density relation. In the atomic gas-dominated outer disk, the SFR density has a steeper dependence on pressure, which we propose could be the result of an increasing fraction of diffuse molecular gas that does not form stars.