Thursday

Understanding the processes regulating star formation represents an integral part of any theory of galaxy evolution. In recent years, the rise of vast statistical optical-IFU datasets has revolutionised our understanding of galaxies as extended dynamic systems. For instance, stellar population gradients and spatially resolved star formation rates offer insights into galaxy formation and quenching mechanisms, while metallicity gradients can be used as probes of minor mergers/inflows, and resolved kinematics can map the spatial distribution of ionised gas flows which may affect star-forming activity.
At the same time, the director fuel for star formation, held in the form of cold molecular gas, is not visible at the wavelengths probed by the plethora of optical 3D surveys. In this context, we are using the Arizona Radio Observatory to conduct a single-dish CO follow-up survey of MaNGA galaxies selected to span a range in masses and SFRs (~180 targets observed to date; Wylezalek et al. in prep.). At the galaxy-integrated level, the importance of molecular gas properties for the process of star formation has been well established; for instance, galaxies above the Main Sequence are both more gas-rich and more efficient at converting gas into stars. Based on a spatially resolved full spectral fitting procedure using the Bagpipes code (Carnall et al. 2018), I will present insights into how spatially resolved properties (including profiles of ongoing star formation, stellar age, and gas-phase metallicity) relate to the availability and consumption of molecular gas. In particular, the size of the sample (consisting to ~20% of AGN/LINERs/composites) enables us to investigate how such relations vary for galaxies with different levels of star-forming and AGN activity, and examine the role of morphology and environment.