2020MNRAS.499L..26W

We present CO observations towards a sample of six H I-rich Ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) as well as one UDG (VLSB-A) in the Virgo Cluster with the Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimetrique (IRAM) 30-m telescope. CO J = 1-0 is marginally detected at 4σ level in AGC 122966, as the first detection of CO emission in UDGs. We estimate upper limits of molecular mass in other galaxies from the non-detection of CO lines. These upper limits and the marginal CO detection in AGC 122966 indicate low mass ratios between molecular and atomic gas masses. With the star formation efficiency derived from the molecular gas, we suggest that the inefficiency of star formation in such H I-rich UDGs is likely caused by the low efficiency in converting molecules from atomic gas, instead of low efficiency in forming stars from molecular gas.