Physics
Scientific paper
Apr 1987
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1987aipc..155..118l&link_type=abstract
AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 155, pp. 118-122 (1987).
Physics
5
Far Infrared
Scientific paper
We present new measurements of CO submillimeter (J=7 -->6) and far-infrared (J=14 --> 13, J=21 --> 20) lines in the Galactic center. The new data, together with earlier CO measurements, are used to derive the physical conditions of the dense, warm molecular gas at different positions in the Sgr a circum-nuclear ring. From the inner edge of the ring at R~1.7 pc to R~6 pc the gas pressure decreases proportional to R-1.6+/-0.4. The best fit excitation curves indicate that both density and temperature decrease with distance from the center. There is also an azimuthal excitation gradient in the ring. If the molecular gas is directly heated from the center by UV radiation or mass outflow the decrease of excitation is a natural consequence of the R-2 dependence of the energy density. In the more likely scenario of shock heating fed by the large turbulence of the gas throughout the ring, the excitation gradient may reflect variations in gas density and heating efficiency.
Genzel Reinhard
Harris Andrew I.
Lugten John B.
Stacey Gordon J.
Townes Charles H.
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