CO observations of major merger pairs at z=0

These galaxies represent a subsample of a Ks-band-selected sample consisting of 88 close major-merger pairs (HKPAIRs), 44 spiral-spiral (S+S) pairs, and 44 spiral-elliptical (S+E) pairs, with separation <20h^-1^kpc and mass ratio <2.5. For all objects, the star formation rate (SFR) and dust mass were derived from Herschel PACS and SPIRE data, and the atomic gas mass, MHI, from the Green Bank Telescope HI observations.

The complete data set allows us to study the relation between gas (atomic and molecular) mass, dust mass, and SFR in merger galaxies. We derive the molecular gas fraction (M_H2_/M*), molecular-to-atomic gas mass ratio (M_H2_/M_HI_), gas-to-dust mass ratio and SFE (=SFR/M_H2_) and study their dependences on pair type (S+S compared to S+E), stellar mass, and the presence of morphological interaction signs. We find an overall moderate enhancement (~2x) in both molecular gas fraction (M_H2_/M*) and molecular-to-atomic gas ratio (M_H2_/M_HI_) for star-forming galaxies in major-merger pairs compared to non-interacting comparison samples, whereas no enhancement was found for the SFE nor for the total gas mass fraction ((MHI+MH2)/M^Cstar).