The Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone

Abstract

This review compiles the results of recent studies of molecular gas conditions in the central six hundred parsecs of our Galaxy. The review begins by placing our Galactic center into context with the rest of our galaxy. It next discusses the wealth of previous research on the Galactic center, before focusing on what is known about the molecular interstellar medium in this region. It focuses especially on a surge in interest in this region and new studies conducted in the last five years. It concludes by highlighting open questions that remain, and the potential for new facilities such as ALMA to make progress in resolving these uncertainties.

arXiv commentReview from the Proceedings of the Frank N. Bash Symposium 2015 (BASH2015). 18-20 October. The University of Texas at Austin, USA. Contains additional Section 3 on Open Questions and New Frontiers that was not published in original PoS review

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to a dark matter signal from the Galactic centre
• Pevatron at the Galactic Center: Multi-Wavelength Signatures from Millisecond Pulsars
• Molecular Clouds as the Origin of the Fermi Gamma-Ray GeV-Excess
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• Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to a dark matter signal from the Galactic centre
• 6.7 GHz CH3OH absorption towards the N3 Galactic Center point-source