H_2 Emission from the Inner 400 Parsecs of the Galaxy, II. The UV-Excited H_2
Soojong Pak(1,2), D. T. Jaffe(1), and L. D. Keller(1,2)
(1) Astronomy Department, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 (2) Visiting Astronomer, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, under contract with the National Science Foundation
Paper: the 4th ESO/CTIO Workshop
See also:
Paper: ApJ 457, L43 (1996)
Abstract:
We have observed near-IR H_2 line emission on large scales in the Galactic center.
Paper I discussed our 400 pc long strip map and 50 pc map of the H_2 v=1-> 0 S(1) line.
In this paper, we present observations of the higher vibrational lines (H_2 v=2-> 1 S(1) and v=3-> 2 S(3)) at selected positions and conclude that strong far-UV radiations excites the H_2.
We compare the H_2 v=1-> 0 S(1) emission to far-IR continuum emission and show that the ratio of these two quantities in the Galactic center equals the ratio seen in the starburst galaxies, M82 and NGC 253, and in ultraluminous infrared bright galaxies.
Preprints available from the authors at soojong@astro.as.utexas.edu
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