3D CMZ. I. Central Molecular Zone Overview

3D CMZ. I. Central Molecular Zone Overview

The Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) is the largest reservoir of dense molecular gas in the Galaxy and is heavily obscured in the optical and near-IR. We present an overview of the far-IR dust continuum, where the molecular clouds are revealed, provided by Herschel in the inner 40° (∣ l ∣ < 20°) of t...

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Main Authors: Cara Battersby, Daniel L. Walker, Ashley Barnes, Adam Ginsburg, Dani Lipman, Danya Alboslani, H Perry Hatchfield, John Bally, Simon C. O. Glover, Jonathan D. Henshaw, Katharina Immer, Ralf S. Klessen, Steven N. Longmore, Elisabeth A. C. Mills, Sergio Molinari, Rowan Smith, Mattia C. Sormani, Robin G. Tress, Qizhou Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
Subjects:
Galactic center
Star formation
Dust continuum emission
Far infrared astronomy
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb5f0
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Summary:The Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) is the largest reservoir of dense molecular gas in the Galaxy and is heavily obscured in the optical and near-IR. We present an overview of the far-IR dust continuum, where the molecular clouds are revealed, provided by Herschel in the inner 40° (∣ l ∣ < 20°) of the Milky Way with a particular focus on the CMZ. We report a total dense gas ( N (H _2 ) > 10 ^23 cm ^−2 ) CMZ mass of $\sim {2}_{-1}^{+2}\times 1{0}^{7}$ M _⊙ and confirm that there is a highly asymmetric distribution of dense gas, with about 70%–75% at positive longitudes. We create and publicly release complete fore/background-subtracted column density and dust temperature maps in the inner 40° (∣ l ∣ < 20°) of the Galaxy. We find that the CMZ clearly stands out as a distinct structure, with an average mass per longitude that is at least 3× higher than the rest of the inner Galaxy contiguously from 1 $\mathop{.}\limits^{\unicode{x000B0}}$ 8 > ℓ > −1 $\mathop{.}\limits^{\unicode{x000B0}}$ 3. This CMZ extent is larger than previously assumed, but is consistent with constraints from velocity information. The inner Galaxy’s column density peaks towards the SgrB2 complex with a value of about 2 × 10 ^24 cm ^−2 , and typical CMZ molecular clouds are about N (H _2 ) ∼ 10 ^23 cm ^−2 . Typical CMZ dust temperatures range from ∼12–35 K with relatively little variation. We identify a ridge of warm dust in the inner CMZ that potentially traces the base of the northern Galactic outflow seen with MEERKAT.
ISSN:1538-4357

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