2 mm GISMO Observations of the Galactic Center. I. Dust Emission

Abstract

The Central Molecular Zone (CMZ), covering the inner ∼ 1 ◦ of the Galactic plane has been mapped at 2 mm using the GISMO bolometric camera on the 30 m IRAM telescope. The 2100 resolution maps show abundant emission from cold molecular clouds, from star forming regions, and from one of the Galactic center nonthermal filaments. In this work we use the Herschel Hi-GAL data to model the dust emission across the Galactic center. We find that a single-temperature fit can describe the 160 – 500 µm emission for most lines of sight, if the long-wavelength dust emissivity scales as λ −β with β ≈ 2.25. This dust model is extrapolated to predict the 2 mm dust emission. Subtraction of the model from the GISMO data provides a clearer look at the 2 mm emission of star-forming regions and the brightest nonthermal filament.