ALMA Central Molecular Zone Exploration Survey (ACES) – III. Molecular line data reduction and HNCO and HCO+ data
Journal article, 2026
The ALMA Central molecular zone Exploration Survey (ACES) large program has observed the inner (Formula presented) 200 pc of the Milky Way at 3 mm (Band 3) using ALMA’s 12m, 7m, and Total Power arrays. With an angular resolution of (Formula presented) 2 (Formula presented) ACES provides a contiguous, multi-scale view of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) via the dust continuum and a suite of molecular lines. We present an overview of the molecular line data processing for ACES and describe the first data release. We showcase the HNCO (4–3) and HCO(Formula presented) (1–0) data, which were targeted at high spectral resolution (0.2 (Formula presented) ) to trace the kinematics of the molecular gas in the CMZ. The HNCO and HCO(Formula presented) maps are compared with previous single-dish CMZ surveys and discrete ALMA observations of CMZ clouds to demonstrate the quality of the data. We highlight the ubiquity of parsec-scale, linear absorption features traced by HCO(Formula presented). Their origin is unknown, and ACES provides the first opportunity to study these enigmatic features throughout the CMZ. We release the HNCO and HCO(Formula presented) cubes for all 45 ACES fields, along with the full cube mosaics which combine all fields into a contiguous mosaic of the CMZ. We additionally provide advanced products of these full mosaics, including integrated and peak intensity, noise, and position-velocity maps. These products provide substantial legacy value for the community, offering an unparalleled view of the physical and kinematic structure of the dense gas in the CMZ.
Galaxy: centre
ISM: structure
Author
D. L. Walker
University of Manchester
A. Ginsburg
University of Florida
Ashley T. Barnes
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
X. Lu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Czech Academy of Sciences
P. Y. Hsieh
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
A. Sanchez-Monge
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC)
Savannah R. Gramze
University of Florida
Nazar Budaiev
University of Florida
Marc W. Pound
University of Maryland
J. Pineda
Max Planck Society
Alyssa Bulatek
University of Florida
Claire Cook
University of Kansas
Jonathan D. Henshaw
Max Planck Society
Liverpool John Moores University
K. Immer
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Namitha Issac
Chinese Academy of Sciences
D. L. Jeff
University of Florida
F. H. Liang
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Astronomisches Rechen-Institut Heidelberg
S. Longmore
Liverpool John Moores University
E. A. C. Mills
University of Kansas
S. Martin
European Southern Observatory Santiago
Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA)
Xing Pan
Nanjing University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
T. Pillai
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Qizhou Zhang
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
J. Bally
University of Colorado
C. Battersby
University of Connecticut
L. Colzi
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
P. T. P. Ho
Academia Sinica
I. Jimenez-Serra
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
J.M. Diederik Kruijssen
Maya Petkova
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Mattia C. Sormani
University of Insubria
Robin G. Tress
Observatoire de Sauverny
J. Wallace
University of Connecticut
Jairo Armijos-Abendaño
Escuela Politécnica Nacional
Lucia Armillotta
Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
N. Bijas
University of Manchester
Rojita Buddhacharya
Liverpool John Moores University
Laura A. Busch
Max Planck Society
Natalie Butterfield
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Mélanie Chevance
Heidelberg University
S. Crowe
University of Virginia
Ana Karla Diaz-Rodriguez
University of Manchester
Katarzyna M. Dutkowska
Leiden University
C. Federrath
Australian National University
R. Fedriani
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
P. García
Universidad Catolica del Norte
Chinese Academy of Sciences
S. C.O. Glover
Heidelberg University
Qilao Gu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
H. P. Hatchfield
University of Connecticut
Rebecca J. Houghton
Liverpool John Moores University
Y. Hu
Institute for Advanced Studies
Janik Karoly
University College London (UCL)
R. S. Klessen
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Heidelberg University
Harvard University
Mark R. Krumholz
Australian National University
Farideh Mazoochi
Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)
Francisco Nogueras-Lara
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Dylan Páre
Villanova University
Denise Riquelme-Vásquez
University of La Serena
Víctor M. Rivilla
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
Miriam G. Santa-Maria
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
University of Florida
Anika Schmiedeke
Green Bank Observatory
Y. Sofue
University of Tokyo
V. Tolls
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Q. D. Wang
University of Massachusetts
G. M. Williams
Aberystwyth University
Feng Wei Xu
Beijing University of Technology
Suinan Zhang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
00358711 (ISSN) 13652966 (eISSN)
Vol. 552 2 stag256Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stag256