3D CMZ. I. Central Molecular Zone Overview

Battersby, C, Walker, DL, Barnes, A, Ginsburg, A, Lipman, D, Alboslani, D, Hatchfield, HP, Bally, J, Glover, SCO, Henshaw, JD, Immer, K, Klessen, RS, Longmore, SN, Mills, EAC, Molinari, S, Smith, R, Sormani, MC, Tress, RG and Zhang, Q (2025) 3D CMZ. I. Central Molecular Zone Overview. The Astrophysical Journal, 984 (2). pp. 1-16. ISSN 0004-637X

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Abstract

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(H2) > 1023 cm−2) CMZ mass of ~ ´ -+2 x10 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 18 > ℓ > −13. 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 × 1024 cm−2, and typical CMZ molecular clouds are about N(H2) ∼ 1023 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.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	5109 Space Sciences; 51 Physical Sciences; 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences; 0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics; 0306 Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural); Astronomy & Astrophysics; 5101 Astronomical sciences; 5107 Particle and high energy physics; 5109 Space sciences
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions:	Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher:	American Astronomical Society
Date of acceptance:	13 February 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	15 May 2025
Date Deposited:	15 May 2025 13:07
Last Modified:	15 May 2025 13:15
DOI or ID number:	10.3847/1538-4357/adb5f0
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/26366

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