<i>HERSCHEL</i> * FAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF THE GALACTIC CENTER. HOT MOLECULAR GAS: SHOCKS VERSUS RADIATION NEAR Sgr A

Abstract

We present a ~52-671 μm spectral scan toward Sgr A* taken with the PACS and SPIRE spectrometers on board Herschel. The achieved angular resolution allows us to separate, for the first time at far-IR wavelengths, the emission toward the central cavity (gas in the inner central parsec of the galaxy) from that of the surrounding circumnuclear disk. The spectrum toward Sgr A* is dominated by strong [O III], [O I], [C II], [N III], [N II], and [C I] fine-structure lines (in decreasing order of luminosity) arising in gas irradiated by UV photons from the central stellar cluster. In addition, rotationally excited lines of ^(12)CO (from J = 4-3 to 24-23), ^(13)CO, H_(2)O, OH, H_(3)O+, HCO+, and HCN, as well as ground-state absorption lines of OH+, H_(2)O+, H_(3)O+, CH+, H_(2)O, OH, HF, CH, and NH are detected. The excitation of the ^(12)CO ladder is consistent with a hot isothermal component at T_k ≃ 10^(3.1) K and n(H_2) ≲ 10^4 cm^(–3). It is also consistent with a distribution of temperature components at higher density with most CO at T k ≲ 300 K. The detected molecular features suggest that, at present, neither very enhanced X-ray nor cosmic-ray fluxes play a dominant role in the heating of the hot molecular gas. The hot CO component (either the bulk of the CO column or just a small fraction depending on the above scenario) results from a combination of UV- and shock-driven heating. If irradiated dense clumps/clouds do not exist, shocks likely dominate the heating of the hot molecular gas. This is consistent with the high-velocity gas detected toward Sgr A*.