ALMA Central Molecular Zone Exploration Survey (ACES) II: 3mm continuum images
Adam Ginsburg, Daniel L. Walker, Ashley T. Barnes, Xing Lu, ‘Alvaro S’anchez-Monge, Jaime E. Pineda, Marc W. Pound, Pei-Ying Hsieh, Katharina Immer, Qizhou Zhang, Nazar Budaiev, Savannah R. Gramze, Desmond Jeff, Claire Cook, Alyssa Bulatek, Elisabeth A. C. Mills, John Bally, Laura Colzi, Pablo Garc’ia, Jonathan D. Henshaw, Izaskun Jim’enez-Serra, Ralf S. Klessen, Simon R. Dicker, Steven N. Longmore, Francisco Nogueras-Lara, V’ictor M. Rivilla, Miriam G. Santa-Maria, Q. Daniel Wang, Fengwei Xu, Cara Battersby, Paul T. P. Ho, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Maya Petkova, Mattia C. Sormani, Robin G. Tress, Jennifer Wallace, J. Armijos-Abenda~no, Lucia Armillotta, N. Bijas, Rojita Buddhacharya, Laura A. Busch, Natalie O. Butterfield, M’elanie Chevance, Samuel Crowe, Ana Karla D’iaz-Rodr’iguez, Katarzyna M. Dutkowska, Rub’en Fedriani, Christoph Federrath, Simon C. O. Glover, Qi-Lao Gu, Rebecca J. Houghton, Yue Hu, Namitha Issac, Janik Karoly, Mark R. Krumholz, Fu-Heng Liang, Sergio Mart’in, Farideh Mazoochi, Xing Pan, Dylan Par’e, Thushara G. S. Pillai, Denise Riquelme-V’asquez, Anika Schmiedeke, Yoshiaki Sofue, Volker Tolls, Gwenllian M. Williams, Suinan Zhang, Emily Moravec, Charles E. Romero, Brian S. Mason, John Orlowski-Scherer, H Perry Hatchfield
arXiv:2602.20240v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: The ALMA Central Molecular Zone Exploration Survey, ACES, has mapped $gtrsim1000$ square arcminutes at 3 mm toward the center of our Galaxy. ACES provides the first large-scale, high-resolution ($sim2.5$”) view of the central $sim200$ parsecs of the Milky Way. In this work, we describe the continuum data processing and present the continuum data products. In the combined mosaic of 45 individual ALMA mosaics, the typical RMS noise achieved is $sim0.1$ mJy per $sim2.5$” beam, though there is a tail of substantially higher noise toward regions with bright continuum structure, especially around Sgr A* and Sgr B2. In-band spectral indices are measurable for a small fraction of the brightest and most compact sources, enabling distinction between dust-dominated and free-free- or synchrotron-dominated sources. To recover emission on large angular scales, we present the GBT MUSTANG-2 Three millimeter Extended Nucleus Survey (TENS), a new 10″resolution survey of the CMZ, which we combine with the ACES image by feathering. To demonstrate the quality and reliability of the ACES data, we compare to previously-published ALMA data obtained with higher resolution and sensitivity, finding overall good agreement with past results, but some disagreement toward the brightest sources.arXiv:2602.20240v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: The ALMA Central Molecular Zone Exploration Survey, ACES, has mapped $gtrsim1000$ square arcminutes at 3 mm toward the center of our Galaxy. ACES provides the first large-scale, high-resolution ($sim2.5$”) view of the central $sim200$ parsecs of the Milky Way. In this work, we describe the continuum data processing and present the continuum data products. In the combined mosaic of 45 individual ALMA mosaics, the typical RMS noise achieved is $sim0.1$ mJy per $sim2.5$” beam, though there is a tail of substantially higher noise toward regions with bright continuum structure, especially around Sgr A* and Sgr B2. In-band spectral indices are measurable for a small fraction of the brightest and most compact sources, enabling distinction between dust-dominated and free-free- or synchrotron-dominated sources. To recover emission on large angular scales, we present the GBT MUSTANG-2 Three millimeter Extended Nucleus Survey (TENS), a new 10″resolution survey of the CMZ, which we combine with the ACES image by feathering. To demonstrate the quality and reliability of the ACES data, we compare to previously-published ALMA data obtained with higher resolution and sensitivity, finding overall good agreement with past results, but some disagreement toward the brightest sources.