High velocity compact clouds in the sagittarius C region

Kunihiko Tanaka, Tomoharu Oka, Shinji Matsumura, Makoto Nagai, Kazuhisa Kamegai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report the detection of extremely broad emission toward two molecular clumps in the Galactic central molecular zone. We have mapped the Sagittarius C complex (-0.°61 < l < -0.°27, -0.°29 < b < 0.°04) in the HCN J = 4-3, 13CO J = 3-2, and H13CN J = 1-0 lines with the ASTE 10 m and NRO 45 m telescopes, detecting bright emission with 80-120 km s-1 velocity width (in full-width at zero intensity) toward CO-0.30-0.07 and CO-0.40-0.22, which are high velocity compact clouds (HVCCs) identified with our previous CO J = 3-2 survey. Our data reveal an interesting internal structure of CO-0.30-0.07 comprising a pair of high velocity lobes. The spatial-velocity structure of CO-0.40-0.22 can be also understood as a multiple velocity component, or a velocity gradient across the cloud. They are both located on the rims of two molecular shells of about 10 pc in radius. Kinetic energies of CO-0.30-0.07 and CO-0.40-0.22 are (0.8-2) × 1049 erg and (1-4) × 1049 erg, respectively. We propose several interpretations of their broad emission: collision between clouds associated with the shells, bipolar outflow, expansion driven by supernovae (SNe), and rotation around a dark massive object. These scenarios cannot be discriminated because of the insufficient angular resolution of our data, though the absence of a visible energy source associated with the HVCCs seems to favor the cloud-cloud collision scenario. Kinetic energies of the two molecular shells are 1 × 1051 erg and 0.7 × 1051 erg, which can be furnished by multiple SN or hypernova explosions in 2 × 105 yr. These shells are candidates of molecular superbubbles created after past active star formation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number62
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume783
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014 Mar 1

Keywords

  • Galaxy
  • center

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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