Local Instability Signatures in ALMA Observations of Dense Gas in NGC 7469

We present an unprecedented measurement of the disk stability and local instability scales in the luminous infrared Seyfert 1 host, NGC 7469, based on ALMA observations of dense gas tracers and with a synthesized beam of 165 x 132 pc. While we confirm that non-circular motions are not significant in redistributing the dense interstellar gas in this galaxy, we find compelling evidence that the dense gas is a suitable tracer for studying the origin of its intensely high-mass star-forming ringlike structure. Our derived disk stability parameter Q accounts for a thick disk structure, and its value falls below unity at the radii in which intense star formation is found. Furthermore, we derive the characteristic instability scale lambda(c) and find a striking agreement between our measured scale of similar to 180 pc and the typical sizes of individual complexes of young and massive star clusters seen in high-resolution images.