Jorge L. Pineda, Norikazu Mizuno, Markus Roellig, Juergen Stutzki, Carsten Kramer, Ulrich Klein, Monica Rubio
(Abridged) The 30 Dor region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the most vigorous star-forming region in the Local Group. Star formation in this region is taking place in low-metallicity molecular gas which is exposed to an extreme far--ultraviolet (FUV) radiation field powered by the massive compact star cluster R136. We used the NANTEN2 telescope to obtain high-angular resolution observations of the 12CO 4-3, 7-6, and 13CO 4-3 rotational lines and [CI] 3P1-3P0 and 3P2-3P1 fine-structure sub-millimeter transitions in 30Dor-10, the brightest CO and FIR-emitting cloud at the center of the 30Dor region. We derive the properties of the low-metallicity molecular gas using an excitation/radiative transfer code and find a self-consistent solution of the chemistry and thermal balance of the gas in the framework of a clumpy cloud PDR model. We compare the derived properties with those in the N159W region, which is exposed to a more moderate far-ultraviolet radiation field compared with 30Dor-10, but has similar metallicity. We also combine our CO detections with previously observed low-J CO transitions to derive the CO spectral-line energy distribution in 30Dor-10 and N159W. The separate excitation analysis of the submm CO lines and the neutral carbon fine structure lines shows that the mid-J CO and [CI]-emitting gas in the 30Dor-10 region has a temperature of about 160 K and a H2 density of about 10^4 cm^-3. We find that the molecular gas in 30Dor-10 is warmer and has a smaller beam filling factor compared to that of N159W, which might be a result of the effect of a strong FUV radiation field heating and disrupting the low--metallicity molecular gas. We use a clumpy PDR model (including the [CII] line intensity reported in the literature) to constrain the FUV intensity to about chi_0 ~ 3100 and an average total H density of the clump ensemble of about 10^5 cm^-3 in 30Dor-10.
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http://arxiv.org/abs/1206.4051
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