2010ApJ...724.1120M

We present the results from new Nobeyama Millimeter Array observations of CO(1-0), HCN(1-0), and 89 GHz continuum emission toward NGC 604, known as the supergiant H II region in the nearby galaxy M33. Our high spatial resolution images (4".2x2".6, corresponding to 17 pcx11 pc physical size) of CO emission allowed us to uncover 10 individual molecular clouds that have masses of (0.8-7.4) x10⁵ M_☉ and sizes of 5-29 pc, comparable to those of typical Galactic giant molecular clouds. Moreover, we detected for the first time HCN emission in the two most massive clouds and 89 GHz continuum emission at the rims of the "Hα shells." The HCN and 89 GHz continuum emission are offset from the CO peak and are distributed in the direction of the central cluster. Three out of ten CO clouds are well correlated with the Hα shells both in spatial and velocity domains, implying an interaction between molecular gas and the expanding H II region. The CO clouds show varieties in star formation efficiencies (SFEs), which are estimated from the 89 GHz emission and combination of Hα and Spitzer 24 µm data. Furthermore, we found that the SFEs decrease with increasing projected distance measured from the heart of the central OB star cluster in NGC 604, suggesting radial changes in the evolutionary stages of the molecular clouds in the course of stellar cluster formation. Our results provide further support to the picture of sequential star formation in NGC 604 initially proposed by Tosaki et al. with the higher spatially resolved molecular clouds, in which an isotropic expansion of the H II region pushes gases outward, which accumulates to form dense molecular clouds, and then induces massive star formations.