Neutral Carbon and the Dense Interstellar Medium in the Inner 300 pc of the Galaxy

D.T. Jaffe (1), R. Plume(1,3), Neal J. Evans II (1) John Bally (2)

(1) Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 (2) Department of Astrophysics, Planetary & Atmospheric Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (3) Currently at Harvard-Smithsonian center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138

Paper: to appear in the proceedings of the 4th ESO/CTIO workshop "The Galactic Center", ed. R. Gredel, ASP Conf. Ser.


Abstract:

We present observations of the 492 GHz transition of CI over the inner 400 pc of the Galactic center. Emission in the ground state fine-structure lines of CI traces UV-illuminated material at the surfaces of molecular clouds. We can therefore use CI and molecular line observations to learn about the structure of neutral clouds in the Galactic center and the influence of UV radiation upon them. We compare the CI emission to ^13CO and CS emission and discuss the implications of the results for the nature of interstellar clouds in the inner Galaxy.


Preprints available from the authors at dtj@fireant.as.utexas.edu , or the raw TeX (no figures) if you click here.

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