Disruption of a massive molecular cloud by a supernova in the Galactic Centre: Initial results from the ACES project
Journal article, 2024

The Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) differs dramatically from our local solar neighbourhood, both in the extreme interstellar medium conditions it exhibits (e.g. high gas, stellar, and feedback density) and in the strong dynamics at play (e.g. due to shear and gas influx along the bar). Consequently, it is likely that there are large-scale physical structures within the CMZ that cannot form elsewhere in the Milky Way. In this paper, we present new results from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) large programme ACES (ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey) and conduct a multi-wavelength and kinematic analysis to determine the origin of the M0.8-0.2 ring, a molecular cloud with a distinct ring-like morphology. We estimate the projected inner and outer radii of the M0.8-0.2 ring to be 79′′ and 154′′, respectively (3.1 pc and 6.1 pc at an assumed Galactic Centre distance of 8.2 kpc) and calculate a mean gas density >104 cm-3, a mass of ∼106 M⊙, and an expansion speed of ∼20 km s-1, resulting in a high estimated kinetic energy (>1051 erg) and momentum (>107 M⊙ km s-1). We discuss several possible causes for the existence and expansion of the structure, including stellar feedback and large-scale dynamics. We propose that the most likely cause of the M0.8-0.2 ring is a single high-energy hypernova explosion. To viably explain the observed morphology and kinematics, such an explosion would need to have taken place inside a dense, very massive molecular cloud, the remnants of which we now see as the M0.8-0.2 ring. In this case, the structure provides an extreme example of how supernovae can affect molecular clouds.

ISM: clouds

ISM: supernova remnants

Galaxy: center

ISM: bubbles

ISM: kinematics and dynamics

Author

M. Nonhebel

University of St Andrews

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Ashley T. Barnes

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

K. Immer

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Jairo Armijos-Abendaño

Escuela Politécnica Nacional

Cardiff University

J. Bally

University of Colorado at Boulder

C. Battersby

University of Connecticut

M. G. Burton

Armagh Observatory and Planetarium

Natalie Butterfield

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

L. Colzi

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

P. García

Universidad Catolica del Norte

Chinese Academy of Sciences

A. Ginsburg

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Jonathan D. Henshaw

Liverpool John Moores University

Max Planck Society

Y. Hu

Institute for Advanced Studies

I. Jimenez-Serra

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

R. S. Klessen

Heidelberg University

J.M. Diederik Kruijssen

Technical University of Munich

COOL Research DAO

F. H. Liang

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

University of Oxford

S. Longmore

Liverpool John Moores University

X. Lu

Chinese Academy of Sciences

S. Martin

Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA)

European Southern Observatory Santiago

E. A. C. Mills

University of Kansas

Francisco Nogueras-Lara

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Maya Petkova

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

J. Pineda

Max Planck Society

Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

Víctor M. Rivilla

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

A. Sanchez-Monge

Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC)

Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

Max Planck Society

Miriam G. Santa-Maria

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

H. A. Smith

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Y. Sofue

University of Tokyo

Mattia C. Sormani

University of Insubria

V. Tolls

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

D. L. Walker

University of Manchester

J. Wallace

University of Connecticut

Q. D. Wang

University of Massachusetts

G. M. Williams

Aberystwyth University

Feng Wei Xu

Beijing University of Technology

University of Cologne

Astronomy and Astrophysics

0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)

Vol. 691 A70

Opticon RadioNet Pilot

European Commission (EC) (EC/H2020/101004719), 2021-03-01 -- 2025-02-28.

Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/202451190

More information

Latest update

3/9/2025 1