Systematic properties of CO emission from galaxies. I - Luminosity function

A sensitive survey of normal galaxies covering a wide range of luminosities and morphological types is combined with galaxy observations in the literature to provide a sample for statistical study. The global CO emission of these galaxies is extrapolated by modeling the galaxies with an exponential radial profile. The maximum-likelihood distribution functions of CO luminosity and CO/H I flux ratio are similar in behavior. Both have long tails of bright galaxies. However, the typical galaxy has a CO luminosity of about 10 to the 6th Jy km/s Mpc-squared or less and a CO/H I ratio of the order of 10 or less. Averages of the distributions of CO luminosity and CO/H I flux ratio are higher for galaxies of Hubble type Sb-Sbc than for groups of earlier or later types. Quantitative estimates of the possible error sources in the conversion of CO luminosity to molecular mass indicates that the peaking of CO emission at intermediate types is a fairly confident result.