ALMA Central Molecular Zone Exploration Survey (ACES) – III. Molecular line data reduction and HNCO and HCO+ data

Walker, DL, Ginsburg, A, Barnes, AT, Lu, X, Hsieh, PY, Sánchez-Monge, Á, Gramze, SR, Budaiev, N, Pound, MW, Pineda, JE, Bulatek, A, Cook, C, Henshaw, JD ORCID: 0000-0001-9656-7682, Immer, K, Issac, N, Jeff, D, Liang, FH, Longmore, SN ORCID: 0000-0001-6353-0170, Mills, EAC, Martín, S et al (2026) ALMA Central Molecular Zone Exploration Survey (ACES) – III. Molecular line data reduction and HNCO and HCO+ data. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 552 (2). ISSN 0035-8711

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Abstract

The ALMA Central molecular zone Exploration Survey (ACES) large program has observed the inner (Formula presented) 200 pc of the Milky Way at 3 mm (Band 3) using ALMA’s 12m, 7m, and Total Power arrays. With an angular resolution of (Formula presented) 2 (Formula presented)  ACES provides a contiguous, multi-scale view of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) via the dust continuum and a suite of molecular lines. We present an overview of the molecular line data processing for ACES and describe the first data release. We showcase the HNCO (4–3) and HCO(Formula presented) (1–0) data, which were targeted at high spectral resolution (0.2 (Formula presented) ) to trace the kinematics of the molecular gas in the CMZ. The HNCO and HCO(Formula presented) maps are compared with previous single-dish CMZ surveys and discrete ALMA observations of CMZ clouds to demonstrate the quality of the data. We highlight the ubiquity of parsec-scale, linear absorption features traced by HCO(Formula presented). Their origin is unknown, and ACES provides the first opportunity to study these enigmatic features throughout the CMZ. We release the HNCO and HCO(Formula presented) cubes for all 45 ACES fields, along with the full cube mosaics which combine all fields into a contiguous mosaic of the CMZ. We additionally provide advanced products of these full mosaics, including integrated and peak intensity, noise, and position-velocity maps. These products provide substantial legacy value for the community, offering an unparalleled view of the physical and kinematic structure of the dense gas in the CMZ.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	ISM: structure; Galaxy: centre; 5101 Astronomical Sciences; 51 Physical Sciences; 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences; 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:	Oxford University Press
Date of acceptance:	2 February 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	2 November 2026
Date Deposited:	02 Nov 2026 15:47
Last Modified:	02 Nov 2026 15:47
DOI or ID number:	10.1093/mnras/stag256
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29799

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