Professor Cara Battersby

Recent Publications

• Discovery of a Giant Molecular Cloud at the Midpoint of the Galactic Bar Dust Lanes: M4.7-0.8 March 18, 2025
  We present the detection of a previously unknown giant molecular cloud (GMC) located at the midpoint of the Galactic Bar Dust Lanes (M4.7--0.8), using spectral line observations taken with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). This $\sim$60 pc long GMC is associated with accreting material that is transitioning from the quieter Galactic disk environment to the […]
  Natalie Butterfield
• ALMAGAL III. Compact source catalog: Fragmentation statistics and physical evolution of the core population March 7, 2025
  The mechanisms behind the fragmentation of high-mass dense clumps into compact star-forming cores are fundamental topics in current astrophysical research. The ALMAGAL survey provides the opportunity to study this process at an unprecedented level of detail and statistical significance, featuring high-angular resolution $1.38$ mm ALMA observations of $1013$ massive dense clumps at various Galactic locations. […]
  A. Coletta
• ALMAGAL II. The ALMA evolutionary study of high-mass protocluster formation in the Galaxy. ALMA data processing and pipeline March 7, 2025
  The ALMAGAL Large Program has observed 1017 high-mass star-forming regions distributed throughout the Galaxy, sampling different evolutionary stages and environmental conditions. In this work, we present the acquisition and processing of the ALMAGAL data. The main goal is to set up a robust pipeline that generates science-ready products, with a good and uniform quality across […]
  Á. Sánchez-Monge
• ALMAGAL I. The ALMA evolutionary study of high-mass protocluster formation in the Galaxy. Presentation of the survey and early results March 7, 2025
  Fundamental questions about the physics responsible for fragmenting molecular parsec-scale clumps into cores of ~1000 au are still open, that only a statistically significant investigation with ALMA is able to address: what are the dominant agents that determine the core demographics, mass, and spatial distribution as a function of the physical properties of the hosting […]
  S. Molinari
• Subclustering and Star Formation Efficiency in Three Protoclusters in the Central Molecular Zone March 2, 2025
  We present so far the highest resolution ($\sim$0.04") ALMA 1.3 mm continuum observations of three massive star-forming clumps in the Central Molecular Zone, namely 20 km s$^{-1}$ C1, 20 km $^{-1}$ C4, and Sgr C C4, which reveal prevalent compact millimeter emission. We extract the compact emission with $\textit{astrodendro}$ and identify a total of 199 […]
  Suinan Zhang
• ALMA observations of massive clouds in the central molecular zone: slim filaments tracing parsec-scale shocks February 6, 2025
  The central molecular zone (CMZ) of our Galaxy exhibits widespread emission from SiO and various complex organic molecules (COMs), yet the exact origin of such emission is uncertain. Here we report the discovery of a unique class of long ($>$0.5 pc) and narrow ($
  Kai Yang
• 3D MC I: X-ray Tomography Begins to Unravel the 3-D Structure of a Molecular Cloud in our Galaxy's Center January 13, 2025
  Astronomers have used observations of the Galactic gas and dust via infrared, microwave, and radio to study molecular clouds in extreme environments such as the Galactic center. More recently, X- ray telescopes have opened up a new wavelength range in which to study these molecular clouds. Previous flaring events from SgrA* propagate X-rays outwards in […]
  Samantha W. Brunker
• 3D MC II: X ray echoes reveal a clumpy molecular cloud in the CMZ January 13, 2025
  X-ray observations collected over the last decades have revealed a strongly variable X-ray signal within the Milky Way's Galactic center, interpreted as X-ray echoes from its supermassive black hole, Sgr A*. These echoes are traced by the strong Fe K$\alpha$ fluorescent line at 6.4 keV of which its intensity is proportional to the density of […]
  Danya Alboslani