Interplay of cold molecular gas, dynamic shear, and magnetic field in Milky Way centre

Eric Liang

Thursday, Dec. 5th, 9:20CET

Cold molecular gas both potentially forms stars and bears the effects of stellar feedback and other mechanisms. Thus, it is a key component of galaxy evolution. The central molecular zones (CMZs) of nearby galaxies are extreme environments (high galactic shear, turbulence, magnetic field, etc.) with a large variation of star formation efficiencies, calling for explanation. CMZs can also enlighten us about high-z galaxies due to their similarities. To study the properties of cold molecular gas under such extreme conditions, we observed the Milky Way CMZ with unprecedented spatial (0.7 pc) and spectral (0.2 km/s) resolutions as part of the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey. We construct an HNCO gas-structure dendrogram. We examine potential physical drivers of gas-structure morphologies including galactic shear effects and magnetic fields. We also study the dynamic states of gas structures in the context of star formation.