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Paper: The Galactic Center in CH: A Comparison with CO
Volume: 217, Imaging at Radio Through Submillimeter Wavelengths
Page: 90
Authors: Magnani, L.; Engebreth, B.; Hartmann, D.; Dame, T.
Abstract: The nuclei of galaxies typically contain large amounts of molecular gas. Our Galaxy is no exception with ~ 108 Modot of molecular gas accounting for 10% of the dynamical mass at the center. Since the gas at the Galactic Center is thought to be dense (n >= 104 cm-3), CO, CS, NH3, and other high-density molecular gas tracers have been used to probe it. However, lower density gas is likely to be present as well at the cloud boundaries or interfaces with the atomic medium. In an effort to trace this component we used the CH 3335 MHz ground state hyperfine main line transition (an effective tracer of low-density molecular gas) to map a small (40 pc × 40 pc) region at the Galactic Center. A comparison between CO and CH maps of this region is presented.
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