FOREST Unbiased Galactic Plane Imaging Survey with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope (FUGIN). V. Dense gas mass fraction of molecular gas in the Galactic plane

Recent observations of the nearby Galactic molecular clouds indicate that the dense gas in molecular clouds has quasi-universal properties on star formation, and observational studies of extra-galaxies have shown a galactic-scale correlation between the star formation rate (SFR) and the surface density of molecular gas. To reach a comprehensive understanding of both properties, it is important to quantify the fractional mass of dense gas in molecular clouds, f_DG. In particular, for the Milky Way (MW) there are no previous studies resolving f_DG disk over a scale of several kpc. In this study, f_DG was measured over 5 kpc in the first quadrant of the MW, based on the CO J = 1-0 data in l = 10°-50° obtained as part of the FOREST Unbiased Galactic plane Imaging survey with the Nobeyama 45 m telescope (FUGIN) project. The total molecular mass was measured using ¹²CO, and the dense gas mass was estimated using C¹⁸O. The fractional masses, including f_DG, in the region within ±30% of the distances to the tangential points of the Galactic rotation (e.g., the Galactic Bar, Far-3 kpc Arm, Norma Arm, Scutum Arm, Sagittarius Arm, and inter-arm regions) were measured. As a result, an averaged f_DG of 2.9^{+2.6}_{-2.6}% was obtained for the entirety of the target region. This low value suggests that dense gas formation is the primary factor in inefficient star formation in galaxies. It was also found that f_DG shows large variations depending on the structures in the MW disk. In the Galactic arms, f_DG was estimated to be ∼4%-5%, while in the bar and inter-arm regions it was as small as ∼0.1%-0.4%. These results indicate that the formation/destruction processes of the dense gas and their timescales are different for different regions in the MW, leading to differences in Star formation efficiencies.