EMPIRE: IRAM 30m dense gas survey

We describe the EMPIRE observing and reduction strategies and show new whole-galaxy maps of HCN(1-0), HCO^+^(1-0), HNC(1-0), and CO(1-0). We explore how the HCN-to-CO and IR-to-HCN ratios, observational proxies for the dense gas fraction and dense gas star formation efficiency, depend on host galaxy and local environment.

We find that the fraction of dense gas correlates with stellar surface density, gas surface density, molecular-to-atomic gas ratio, and dynamical equilibrium pressure. In EMPIRE, the star formation rate per unit dense gas is anticorrelated with these same environmental parameters. Thus, although dense gas appears abundant in the central regions of many spiral galaxies, this gas appears relatively inefficient at forming stars.