Seminar Title |
Gas dynamics in the Galactic Center |
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Speaker: |
Dr.Anna Ciurlo |
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Affiliation: |
(UCLA) |
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When |
Monday morning, Aug.26, 10:00 a.m. |
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Where: |
Room 402, Astronomy Building |
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Welcome to Attend |
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( PMO Academic Committee & Academic Circulating committee) |
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Abstract:The Galactic Center, because of its proximity, is a unique and exemplary laboratory to study the energy phenomena in the heart of galaxies. This region is a test case for theories of interstellar medium (ISM) interaction with stars and supermassive black holes in the nuclei of other galaxies.Here I present the structure and dynamics of the ISM from few parsecs to sub-parsec scales. In the central parsec, where the strong UV field is supposed to dissociate the molecular phase of ISM (H2), H2 is detected everywhere. These molecules might have formed in the winds of evolved mass-losing stars in the region and be shortly dissociated by the strong UV radiation. In the inner few tens of arcseconds of the Galactic, observations with the Keck OSIRIS integral field spectrometer allow us to examine of the dynamical properties of the gas and to possibly identify new “G-type” objects, or dusty stellar objects. We present a study of morphology and orbital dynamics of sub- parsec scale gas features in the central region. The discovery and characterization these objects demonstrate the existence of a population of these "G-objects," which helps to constrain assumptions about their origin.
Anna Ciurlo is a post-doc at UCLA in the Galactic Center Group and a Keck Visiting Scholar. She earned her physics degree in Genoa, Italy and her PhD in astrophysics at the Observatory of Paris, France. She is interested in the complex environment of the center of our Galaxy, especially in its effects on the gas clouds and clumps. Her recent studies is focused on the gas physical and dynamical conditions through near-infrared imaging-spectroscopy.