Testing the relationship between HCN, dense gas and star formation

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HCN is considered to be a very good tracer of dense gas in both the Milky Way and external galaxies is linearly correlated with star formation rates from size scale from dense clumps to whole galaxies. This star formation relationship covers 10 orders of magnitude in both mass and luminosity. Despite this strong correlation the link between star formation and the availability of dense gas is not fully understood. We will take advantage of recent Galactic plane surveys to investigate the relationship between HCN and star formation to investigate this relationship and identify the physical connection between the two.