Galactic maps of H2, reconstructed from the CfA CO survey

Maps of galactic H₂, reconstructed from the CfA CO survey (Dame et al., ApJ 547 (2001) 792) data, downloaded from the SAO Radio Telescope Data Center, using a Bayesian variational inference approach.

Here, we provide the mean and standard deviation of the gas density (in cm^-3) on a three-dimensional 512x512x16 grid, spanning -16 kpc < x < 16 kpc, 16 kpc < y < 16 kpc and -0.5 kpc < z < 0.5 kpc, both for the BEG03 and the SBM15 gas flow models:

• H2_dens_mean_BEG03.fits

• H2_dens_stddev_BEG03.fits

• H2_dens_mean_SBM15.fits

• H2_dens_stddev_SBM15.fits

In addition, we also publish the mean and standard deviation of the mass surface density (in M_sun pc^-2) on a two-dimensional 512x512 grid, spanning -16 kpc < x < 16 kpc and 16 kpc < y < 16 kpc, again for both gas flow models:

• H2_surf_mass_dens_mean_BEG03.fits

• H2_surf_mass_dens_stddev_BEG03.fits

• H2_surf_mass_dens_mean_SBM15.fits

• H2_surf_mass_dens_stddev_SBM15.fits

Throughout, we have assumed an CO-to-H₂ conversion factor X_CO=2 10²⁰ molecules cm^-2 (K km s^-1)^-1. Refer to the FITS headers for more detailed information and see arXiv:2012.15770 for a detailed description of the reconstruction as well as a comparison with earlier studies.

When using the deprojected gas maps in your research work, please refer to this Zenodo dataset and the following publication
P. Mertsch and A. Vittino, "Bayesian inference of three-dimensional gas maps: I. Galactic CO", arXiv:2012.15770.