Protostars and Planets VI, Heidelberg, July 15-20, 2013

Poster 1B002

Hot gas, Masers, and Cloud Collisions: The extreme properties of molecular gas at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy

Mills, Elisabeth A.C. (University of California- Los Angeles)
Morris, Mark R. (University of California- Los Angeles)
Lang, Cornelia C. (University of Iowa)
Butterfield, Natalie (University of Iowa)
Ludovici, Dominic (University of Iowa)
Schmitz, Susan (University of Iowa)
Ott, Juergen (National Radio Astronomy Observatory)

Abstract:
Molecular gas properties in the central 500 parsecs of the Galaxy are markedly different from those in the Galactic disk. Galactic center gas clouds are characterized by large, turbulent line widths, high temperatures, and substantial densities– however, existing constraints on the extremes of these properties are poor. We present new results from surveys of Galactic center molecular gas with the Karl G. Jansky VLA and the Robert C. Byrd GBT which probe the Galactic center ISM at higher resolutions and higher energies than any previous work. Our surveys, primarily using the ammonia molecule, present new limits on the turbulence, temperature, and density in these molecular clouds. This poster focuses in the M0.25+0.01 cloud, a massive and apparently starless cloud which is the focus of numerous recent studies. Results include the detection of an extremely hot (T∼400-500 K) molecular gas component, and new masers, including unexpectedly abundant Class I methanol maser emission which appears to trace large-scale shock structure.

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