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C.D. Wilson (McMaster), N.Z. Scoville (Caltech), S.C. Madden (Saclay), V. Charmandaris (Cornell)
High-resolution images of the molecular gas in the Antennae galaxies (NGC 4038/39) have revealed a population of ~ 100 massive concentrations of molecular gas. These supergiant molecular complexes have masses which range over three orders of magnitude and maximum masses approaching 109 solar masses. The slope of the mass function of 1.4±0.1 agrees very well with the slope of the mass function of giant molecular clouds and cores observed in the Milky Way. However, the mass range of the complexes lies well above that of typical giant molecular clouds. I will compare the mass function of the molecular complexes with the observed mass function for the super star clusters in the Antennae, as well as with the mass function derived from similar observations of NGC 5248, a more isolated spiral galaxy that contains a few luminous star clusters.