Molecular clouds at the edge of the Galaxy. II. Physical properties and scaling relations

The outer Galaxy presents an optimal setting for investigating molecular clouds and star formation in environments with low-metallicity. A total of 72 Galactic edge clouds were surveyed using the CO, (2--1) line with the IRAM, 30, m telescope, leading to the identification of 112 CO clumps within molecular clouds with linear resolutions of 0. 5--0. 9, pc. The parameters such as size, mass, surface density, and velocity dispersion of these CO clumps, derived from CO, (2--1) observations, exhibit ranges of 0. 6--3. 4, pc, 34--8250, M_⊙, 12--1025, M_⊙, pc-2, and -1, respectively. Over the galactocentric distance range of 14--23, kpc, no systematic variations are found in these parameters. The velocity dispersion--size relationship of the Galactic edge clumps is modeled as σ_̊m v, =, 0. 69 (±0. 03) R_ ̊m eff ^ 0. 36 (, indicating that turbulence is present within the Galactic edge clumps, similarly to observations in the inner Galactic disk clouds. Furthermore, the luminous mass--size relation of the Galactic edge clumps is described by M_̊m lum, =, 196 (±17) R_ ̊m eff ^, 2. 18, (, suggesting the average column density remains almost constant for clouds of different sizes. The virial parameters range from 0. 6 to 15. 3, with a median value of 2. 8, ±, 0. 6, suggesting that most clumps are gravitationally unbound. Furthermore, the virial parameters of our Galactic edge clumps show a decreasing trend with increasing galactocentric distances, described by an exponential relation α_̊m vir, =, 33. 0 (±, 10. 4), e -R_ ̊m g /6. 7 (, consistent with previous results.