A Near-Infrared Search for Molecular Gas in the Fermi Bubbles

Abstract

We present Gemini/NIFS near-IR integral field spectroscopy of the fields-of-view around two AGNs behind the Fermi Bubbles (PDS 456 and 1H1613-097) to search for molecular gas in the Milky Way's nuclear wind. These two AGN sightlines were selected by the presence of high-velocity neutral and ionized gas seen in UV absorption. We do not detect any extended emission from the H2 ro-vibrational S(0) and S(1) lines at 2.224 and 2.122 microns in either direction. For the S(1) line, the 3-sigma surface brightness limits derived from spectra extracted across the full 3x3 arcsecond NIFS field-of-view are 2.4e-17 erg/cm2/s/A/arcsec2 for PDS 456 and and 4.9e-18 erg/cm2/s/A/arcsec2 for 1H1613-097. Given these non-detections, we conclude that CO emission-line studies and H2 UV absorption-line studies are more promising approaches for characterizing the molecular gas in the Fermi Bubbles.

3 pages, 1 figure

References in corpus (6)

• Giant Gamma-ray Bubbles from Fermi-LAT: AGN Activity or Bipolar Galactic Wind?
• Probing the Fermi Bubbles in Ultraviolet Absorption: A Spectroscopic Signature of the Milky Way's Biconical Nuclear Outflow
• Nuclear Outflow of the Milky Way: Studying the Kinematics and Spatial Extent of the Northern Fermi Bubble
• Cold gas in the Milky Way's nuclear wind
• Mapping Outflowing Gas in the Fermi Bubbles: a UV Absorption Survey of the Galactic Nuclear Wind
• Discovery of High-Velocity H$\alpha$ Emission in the Direction of the Fermi Bubble

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Molecular Gas within the Milky Way's Nuclear Wind