ALMA Central Molecular Zone Exploration Survey (ACES) – III. Molecular line data reduction and HNCO and HCO+ data
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 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

Författare

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

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (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-Gesellschaft

Alyssa Bulatek

University of Florida

Claire Cook

University of Kansas

Jonathan D. Henshaw

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

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, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik

Mattia C. Sormani

Universita degli Studi dell'Insubria

Robin G. Tress

Observatoire de Sauverny

J. Wallace

University of Connecticut

Jairo Armijos-Abendaño

Escuela Politécnica Nacional

Lucia Armillotta

Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri

N. Bijas

University of Manchester

Rojita Buddhacharya

Liverpool John Moores University

Laura A. Busch

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Natalie Butterfield

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Mélanie Chevance

Universität Heidelberg

S. Crowe

University of Virginia

Ana Karla Diaz-Rodriguez

University of Manchester

Katarzyna M. Dutkowska

Universiteit Leiden

C. Federrath

Australian National University

R. Fedriani

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)

P. García

Universidad Catolica del Norte

Chinese Academy of Sciences

S. C.O. Glover

Universität Heidelberg

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

Universität Heidelberg

Harvard University

Mark R. Krumholz

Australian National University

Farideh Mazoochi

Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)

Francisco Nogueras-Lara

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)

Dylan Páre

Villanova University

Denise Riquelme-Vásquez

Universidad de La Serena

Víctor M. Rivilla

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

Miriam G. Santa-Maria

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (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 stag256

Ämneskategorier (SSIF 2025)

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stag256

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2026-10-15