CIERA REU Research

Introduction

My REU summer research project (Northwestern University, 2026) was focused on determining the temperatures of gases near the galactic center. If you want more details, look here.

Results

Using column densities and data from the CO(J=2-1) and CO(J=3-2) lines, a rotation temperature map was created to see which parts of the gas are hotter or colder than others. This allows us to determine where this gas is interacting the most with Sagittarius A*, as an interaction with it will heat up the gas.

Presentation

I presented my results as a poster at the Adler Planetarium and at CIERA.

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