The following document lists the file abstract/SHUETTEM_GC_DUST.abs
from catalogue VI/111.
A plain copy of the file
(without headers/trailers) may be downloaded.
We plan to study dust properties in 30 clouds in the galactic center not associated with Sgr A and Sgr B2. Our ISO proposal follows up our spectral line investigations in more than 10 transitions of NH3, CO isotopes and CS at the central positions of clouds obtained from a CS survey. Kinetic temperatures from our data show that a great deal of the gas has a kinetic temperature of> 100K, while the temperature of dust in the galactic center seems to be about 25K, but is not well determined for positions away from SgrA and B2, which may be exceptional. We plan to combine IRAS flux densities for shorter wavelengths with 200mu data obtained with ISOPHOT to determine the column densities and temperatures of the dust in our sample of well-studied clouds. The combination of the results on dust with our gas results will allow us to determine cloud luminosities, dust/gas ratios as well as cloud stability amd heating. These results will be used to interpret heating and cooling processes in our galactic center and to interpret molecular line and dust properties of other galaxies, for which we have insufficient angular resolutions. The most promising heating mechanisms are either cloud-cloud collisions, or a form of ambipolar diffusion, but NOT heating via cosmic rays. These studies will have great consequences for our understanding of interstellar clouds in the nuclei of other galaxies.