The Galactic Center: High-resolution Imaging and Temperature Determination of Dense Molecular Clouds

Details The Galactic Center: High-resolution Imaging and Temperature Determination of Dense Molecular Clouds The Galactic Center: High-resolution Imaging and Temperature Determination of Dense Molecular Clouds

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...209.1711o&link_type=abstract

2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #17.11; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, V

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The Galactic Center region is obviously the most nearby core of a galaxy and is subject to extreme physical conditions, e.g., it contains the most nearby massive black hole Sgr A* and the very prominent star forming region Sgr B2. We present results of a high-resolution, wide-field, multi-line ammonia survey of the Galactic Center region obtained with he Australia Telescope Compact Array. The survey encompasses Sgr A* and Sgr B2 within its 1 degree x 0.2 degree field of view. At a resolution of 1pc, this is the most detailed map of molecular gas across the Galactic Center region to date. The inversion transitions of ammonia are an excellent thermometer of molecular gas and we derive mean kinetic temperatures of 50K with higher temperatures in some clouds near Sgr A* and in Sgr B2. A very prominent temperature gradient stretches across Sgr B2 (ranging from 100 to 30K), with high temperatures away from the Galactic Center. A decomposition in individual molecular clouds reveals about 3000 individual complexes. The decomposition is used to derive the clump mass function which is flatter than in other Galactic star forming regions. The very high velocity dispersions and the relatively high temperatures also lead to considerable P/k overpressures of 10^6-9 K cm-3.

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