Evidence of a Cloud-Cloud Collision from Overshooting Gas in the Galactic Center

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Gramze, Savannah R., Ginsburg, Adam, Meier, David S., Ott, Juergen, Shirley, Yancy, Sormani, Mattia C., Svoboda, Brian E.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Gramze, Savannah R.
Ginsburg, Adam
Meier, David S.
Ott, Juergen
Shirley, Yancy
Sormani, Mattia C.
Svoboda, Brian E.
author_facet Gramze, Savannah R.
Ginsburg, Adam
Meier, David S.
Ott, Juergen
Shirley, Yancy
Sormani, Mattia C.
Svoboda, Brian E.
contents The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with "bar lanes" that bring gas towards the Galactic Center. Gas flowing along these bar lanes often overshoots, and instead of accreting onto the Central Molecular Zone, it collides with the bar lane on the opposite side of the Galaxy. We observed G5, a cloud which we believe is the site of one such collision, near the Galactic Center at (l,b) = (+5.4, -0.4) with the ALMA/ACA. We took measurements of the spectral lines $^{12}$CO J=2-1, $^{13}$CO J=2-1, C$^{18}$O J=2-1, H$_2$CO J=3$_{03}$-2$_{02}$, H$_{2}$CO J=3$_{22}$-2$_{21}$, CH$_{3}$OH J=4$_{22}$-3$_{12}$, OCS J=18-17 and SiO J=5-4. We observed a velocity bridge between two clouds at $\sim$50 km/s and $\sim$150 km/sin our position-velocity diagram, which is direct evidence of a cloud-cloud collision. We measured an average gas temperature of $\sim$60 K in G5 using H$_2$CO integrated intensity line ratios. We observed that the $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C ratio in G5 is consistent with optically thin, or at most marginally optically thick $^{12}$CO. We measured 1.5 x 10$^{19}$ cm$^{-2}$(K km/s)$^{-1}$ for the local X$_{CO}$, 10-20x less than the average Galactic value. G5 is strong direct observational evidence of gas overshooting the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) and colliding with a bar lane on the opposite side of the Galactic center.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2309_16403
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Evidence of a Cloud-Cloud Collision from Overshooting Gas in the Galactic Center
Gramze, Savannah R.
Ginsburg, Adam
Meier, David S.
Ott, Juergen
Shirley, Yancy
Sormani, Mattia C.
Svoboda, Brian E.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with "bar lanes" that bring gas towards the Galactic Center. Gas flowing along these bar lanes often overshoots, and instead of accreting onto the Central Molecular Zone, it collides with the bar lane on the opposite side of the Galaxy. We observed G5, a cloud which we believe is the site of one such collision, near the Galactic Center at (l,b) = (+5.4, -0.4) with the ALMA/ACA. We took measurements of the spectral lines $^{12}$CO J=2-1, $^{13}$CO J=2-1, C$^{18}$O J=2-1, H$_2$CO J=3$_{03}$-2$_{02}$, H$_{2}$CO J=3$_{22}$-2$_{21}$, CH$_{3}$OH J=4$_{22}$-3$_{12}$, OCS J=18-17 and SiO J=5-4. We observed a velocity bridge between two clouds at $\sim$50 km/s and $\sim$150 km/sin our position-velocity diagram, which is direct evidence of a cloud-cloud collision. We measured an average gas temperature of $\sim$60 K in G5 using H$_2$CO integrated intensity line ratios. We observed that the $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C ratio in G5 is consistent with optically thin, or at most marginally optically thick $^{12}$CO. We measured 1.5 x 10$^{19}$ cm$^{-2}$(K km/s)$^{-1}$ for the local X$_{CO}$, 10-20x less than the average Galactic value. G5 is strong direct observational evidence of gas overshooting the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) and colliding with a bar lane on the opposite side of the Galactic center.
title Evidence of a Cloud-Cloud Collision from Overshooting Gas in the Galactic Center
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.16403