On the Mass Spectrum of Giant Molecular Clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

Abstract Based on a new sensitive survey of the giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud, we derived the mass spectrum for them. In the mass range from $\sim8\times10^4\,{{{M}_{\odot}}}$ to $3\times10^6\,{{{M}_{\odot}}}$, a power law with an index value of $-1.9\pm0.1$ shows the best fit to the data. This is consistent with numerical simulations that explain both the H i and CO clumpy distributions by Wada et al. (2000; ApJ, 540, 797), but is significantly steeper than that of the GMCs in the Galaxy. This may be consistent with the drastic dissipation of the GMCs in the LMC due to higher UV radiation fields than in the Galaxy.