Molecular Clouds in the Milky Way and External Galaxies, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1988 Proceedings of a Symposium Held at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, November 2-4, 1987 Coll. Lecture Notes in Physics, Vol. 315

The volume consists of up-to-date reviews and a selection of contributed papers on subjects including the structure and physical properties of molecular clouds, their role in the star formation process, their dust and chemical properties, molecular cloud surveys of the Milky Way, cloud evolution, problems in cloud mass determinations (a panel discussion and review), the CO properties of external galaxies, nuclei of galaxies as revealed by molecular observations, and galactic spiral structure as reflected by molecular cloud distributions. The abstracts of poster papers on these topics presented at the conference are also included. This book is both a valuable reference and a compendium of current knowledge in this field. It should be of special interest to all students and researchers who work on the physics of star formation, the interstellar medium, molecular clouds and galactic structure.

Temperatures and densities in instellar molecular clouds.- Using infrared limb-brightening to probe isolated dark globules.- CO cooling in molecular clouds: Revised rates.- HI, CO and HCO+ observations of the dark clouds L1642 and L1551.- Temperature gradients across the Rho Oph B1/B2 molecular core: The effects of heating by low luminosity stars on cloud cores.- Effects of energy deposition by cosmic ray protons in dense interstellar clouds.- The UV radiation field within dense interstellar clouds.- A search for dense cores in high-latitude molecular clouds.- H2 CO absorption toward W51.- Properties of giant molecular clouds.- H2 masses in the interstellar medium: Current techniques and selected problem areas.- Gamma-ray insight into the CO — H2 calibration problem.- Evidence from gamma rays and elsewhere for ‘low’ GMC masses.- Mass distribution in the taurus complex.- Comparison of the molecular gas and dust emission in Heiles' cloud 2 and B18.- Comparison of Far-IR and CO emission from nearby molecular clouds.- On using the CO(J=2-d) line in extragalactic studies.- Mass calibration for 15 high-latitude molecular complexes.- Large-area star counting and correlations with CO and IRAS observations: Preliminary results for the region around NGC 281 (S 184).- Molecules in high latitude frontal systems.- A catalog of small, optically-selected molecular clouds: Optical, infrared, and millimeter properties.- OH Zeeman effect studies of magnetic fields in molecular clouds.- 100 micron polarimetry: Mapping magnetic fields in molecular clouds.- Magnetic fields in reflection nebulae.- Polarimetry at 1.3 MM using millipol: Preliminary results for Orion.- Probing bok globule structures and magnetic fields using Iras, IR-CCDS, optical CCD imaging polarimetry, and MM-lines of Co.- Aperture synthesis observations of the 21 CM Zeeman effect toward orion A.- Magnetic and virial equilibrium in molecular clouds.- N-body simulations of a magnetized gas cloud.- Chemistry in dense molecular clouds: Theory and observational constraints.- Molecular cloud chemistry — the abundant elements in grains.- Computation of the emission spectrum of shock-heated molecular hydrogen at interstellar densities.- The photodissociation of interstellar CO.- A source model for the molecular core of L134N.- New observational tests of ion-molecule chemistry: HC3NH+ and PN.- HCN and HNC observations towards dark clouds.- Observations of C3H2 in the diffuse interstellar medium.- Potential chemical relationships of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and c-C3H2.- Search for interstellar methane.- Aperture synthesis maps of molecular lines toward Orion-KL: Evidence for chemical inhomogeneities.- Recent molecular studies of SNR IC443: Some new results for ‘shock’ chemistry.- HOCO+ observations of molecular clouds.- The molecular. Content of high-latitude clouds.- 13CO AND C18O observations of the SGR B2 molecular cloud molecular abundances and column densities.- A study of carbon monoxide isotopes in molecular clouds.- Submillimeter and far-infrared observations of photodissociation regions: A detailed study of M17 SW.- Laboratory detection of the C6H radical.- Laboratory study of the rotational spectrum of vibrationally excited C2,H.- Theories and implications of hierarchical fragmentation.- Morphology and kinematics.- Small-scale structure in dark clouds?.- Column density and velocity waves in 21 cm self absorption toward the taurus molecular complex.- Density and velocity fluctuations at small scale within molecular clouds.- Sonic linewidths in warm clouds?.- A quick look CO emission atlas.- Triggering mechanisms for star formation.- The importance of cooling and rotation in the formation of molecular clouds and stars.- A high resolution multi-molecule study of orion B.- Interstellar methanol towards galactic HII regions.- Formaldehyde emission in orion-KL.- High resolution mapping of molecular lines in S106.- The central 3000 AU of the IRAS16293-2422 core.- Extremely high-velocity co flows in young stellar objects.- Clumping in molecular outflows.- RN043 and B335: Two examples of highly collimated bipolar flows oriented nearly in the plane of the sky.- The L1551, B335 and L723 bipolar molecular outflows.- Disks and jets in outflows — a study of continuum emission.- The life cycle of interstellar clouds.- Gaseous self gravitational effects in the aggregation of giant molecular clouds: The stability of global spiral structures.- The mass spectrum of molecular clouds in computational studies of spiral galaxies.- The CII 158 µm and CO (J=1-0) line emission from molecular clouds.- The Massachusetts — Stony Brook Galactic Plane CO Survey: The face-on picture of the northern galaxy.- The Bell Laboratories CO survey.- A composite CO survey of the entire milky way.- Tracing the perseus arm and a Galactic spur in the first quadrant.- 13CO in the southern Galactic plane.- Molecular clouds in the Carina arm.- Comparison of the contribution of diffuse and dense clouds to the large-scale CO emission of the Galaxy.- The molecular content of galaxies as a function of luminosity.- CO in infrared luminous galaxies.- The molecular content of infrared and optically selected samples of galaxies.- Magnetic fields in galaxies and the relation to CO.- Systematic properties of CO emission from galaxies: Weighted correlations.- The mass dependence of CO and HI emission in SC galaxies.- Nuclear molecular disks in spiral galaxies.- A multiwavelength study of the SCD Galaxy NGC 6946.- Molecular bars in NGC 6946 and maffei 2 ?.- CO observations of the bar of the barred spiral galaxy M83.- Molecular gas in galactic nuclei.- Molecular and atomic clouds in the A22/D118 region: Resolved star formation complexes in M31.- Molecular clouds in the main disk and warped plane of M31.- Giant molecular clouds in M31 and M33.- CO emission from messier 81.- High resolution multi-line aperture synthesis maps of M82.- 230 GHz 12 2CO(2>I) study of M82.- 220 GHz 13CO(2?1) study of M82.- Multifrequency observations of MKN 171 = NGC3690.- Molecular gas in disk galaxies without spirals: Irregulars and SOs.- Iram CO observations of blue compact galaxies.- A,12CO Survey of the large magellanic cloud.- Properties of molecular clouds in the magellanic clouds.- H2 complexes associated with HII regions in external galaxies.- Molecular cloud spiral arms — What do we really know about their nature and formation?.- Molecular spiral arms in M51.- Gaseous spiral structure in M51.- GMC formation in spiral arms triggered by bars or companions.- High resolution, MEM analyzed molecular spiral arm structure in M51..- Molecular cloud spiral arm structure in IC342.- A 3mm wavelength imaging array for astronomical spectroscopy.- The design of a millimeter array.- Kosma — The cologne observatory for SUBMM- and MM-astronomy.