The complex multiscale structure in simulated and observed emission maps of the proto-cluster cloud G0.253+0.016 ('the Brick')
Journal article, 2023

The Central Molecular Zone (the central ∼500 pc of the Milky Way) hosts molecular clouds in an extreme environment of strong shear, high gas pressure and density, and complex chemistry. G0.253+0.016, also known as 'the Brick', is the densest, most compact, and quiescent of these clouds. High-resolution observations with the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) have revealed its complex, hierarchical structure. In this paper we compare the properties of recent hydrodynamical simulations of the Brick to those of the ALMA observations. To facilitate the comparison, we post-process the simulations and create synthetic ALMA maps of molecular line emission from eight molecules. We correlate the line emission maps to each other and to the mass column density and find that HNCO is the best mass tracer of the eight emission lines within the simulations. Additionally, we characterize the spatial structure of the observed and simulated cloud using the density probability distribution function (PDF), spatial power spectrum, fractal dimension, and moments of inertia. While we find good agreement between the observed and simulated data in terms of power spectra and fractal dimensions, there are key differences in the density PDFs and moments of inertia, which we attribute to the omission of magnetic fields in the simulations. This demonstrates that the presence of the Galactic potential can reproduce many cloud properties, but additional physical processes are needed to fully explain the gas structure.

ISM: clouds

galaxies: ISM

ISM: kinematics and dynamics

Galaxy: centre

ISM: evolution

stars: formation

Author

Maya Petkova

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

Astronomisches Rechen-Institut Heidelberg

J. M. D. Kruijssen

Astronomisches Rechen-Institut Heidelberg

COOL Research DAO

A. Louise Kluge

Astronomisches Rechen-Institut Heidelberg

S. C.O. Glover

Heidelberg University

D. L. Walker

University of Connecticut

S. Longmore

Liverpool John Moores University

Jonathan D. Henshaw

Max Planck Society

Liverpool John Moores University

S. Reissl

Heidelberg University

James E. Dale

University of Hertfordshire

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)

Vol. 520 2 2245-2268

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stad229

More information

Latest update

6/9/2023 8