12CO J=2-1 and J=3-2 Line Observations of Molecular Clouds toward the Directions of 59 EGOs in the Northern Sky

In order to investigate the differences between the molecular clouds which are associated with the massive star forming regions and those which are not, we have performed the single-dish simultaneous observations of 12CO J=2-1 and J=3-2 lines toward a sample of 59 Spitzer Extended Green Objects (EGOs) as the massive star forming regions in the northern sky. Combining our results with the data of the 12CO J=1-0 observations toward the same sample EGOs in the literature, we have made the statistical comparisons on the intensities and linewidths of multiple 12CO lines between the molecular clouds associated with EGOs (EGO molecular clouds, in brief) and other non-EGO molecular clouds. On this basis, we have discussed the effects of the gas temperature, density, and velocity field distributions on the statistical characteristics of the two kinds of molecular clouds. It is found that both the EGO molecular clouds and non-EGO molecular clouds have similar mass ranges, hence we conclude that for the formation of massive stars, the key-important factor is probably not the total mass of a giant molecular cloud (GMC), but the volume filling factor of the molecular clumps in the GMC (or the compression extent of the molecular gas in the cloud).