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Cited by 61Astrophysical Phenomena and ObservationsAstrophysics and Star Formation StudiesGalaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena

Cold gas in the Milky Way’s nuclear wind

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Di Teodoro, Enrico M., McClure-Griffiths, N. M., Lockman, Felix J., Armillotta, Lucia·2020·Nature
DOI 10.1038/s41586-020-2595-z
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Abstract

The centre of the Milky Way hosts several high-energy processes that have strongly affected the inner regions of our Galaxy. Activity from the super-massive black hole at the Galactic Centre, which is coincident with the radio source Sagittarius A*, and stellar feedback from the inner molecular ring 1 expel matter and energy from the disk in the form of a galactic wind 2. Multiphase gas has been observed within this outflow, including hot highly ionized 3,4 (temperatures of about 10 6 kelvin), warm ionized 5,6 (10 4 to 10 5 kelvin) and cool atomic 7,8 (10 3 to 10 4 kelvin) gas. However, so far there has been no evidence of the cold dense molecular phase (10 to 100 kelvin). Here we report observations of molecular gas outflowing from the centre of our Galaxy. This cold material is associated with atomic hydrogen clouds travelling in the nuclear wind 8. The morphology and the kinematics of the molecular gas, resolved on a scale of about one parsec, indicate that these clouds are mixing with the warmer medium and are possibly being disrupted. The data also suggest that the mass of the molecular gas outflow is not negligible and could affect the rate of star formation in the central regions of the Galaxy. The presence of this cold, dense and high-velocity gas is puzzling, because neither Sagittarius A* at its current level of activity nor star formation in the inner Galaxy seems to be a viable source for this material.

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  • The shell expansion velocity is significantly slower than the H I/molecular outflows velocities observed at higher latitudes.

    “The shell expansion velocity lies within -3 . 5 < v los < 3 . 5 km s -1 , significantly slower than the H i / molecular outflows velocities ( -180 ≲ v los < 280 km s -1 ) observed at higher latitudes (2 . 5 ◦ ≲ b ≲ 10 ◦ ; Dickinson 2018; Di Teodoro et al. 2020).”

    From The Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way (2024) · cites this paper as Di Teodoro et al. 2020

    The main text (p. 2) reports molecular emission at 250–280 km s⁻¹, and Extended Data Table 1 (Methods, p. 13) places that cloud at b = 5.56°, supporting the comparison with a much slower shell. The cited paper does not establish the full stated line-of-sight range, particularly its −180 km s⁻¹ bound, or the entire 2.5°–10° latitude interval. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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1 of the 44 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [35]35. Roberts, M. S. Radio Observations of Neutral Hydrogen in Galaxies , 309 (the University of Chicago Press, 1975).

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Authors
Di Teodoro, E. M., McClure-Griffiths, N. M., Lockman, F. J., & Armillotta, L.
Affiliations
  • Australian National University (AU)
  • National Radio Astronomy Observatory (US)
ORCID
Venue
Nature
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-08-19
Volume
584
Issue
7821
Pages
364-367
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/s41586-020-2595-z
OpenAlex
W3070993191
Cited by
61
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 4
FWCI
3.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Florence Research (University of Florence) (submittedVersion)
  • ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
Keywords
cold molecular gas, galactic outflows, Sgr A*, supermassive black hole feedback, stellar feedback, gas kinematics, gas mixing, star formation rate, Galactic Center

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