Welcome to SWAG

SWAG, the "Survey of Water and Ammonia in the Galactic center" is an ambitious project to map the molecular content of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of our Milky Way at 1pc resolution with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The Galactic Center is a violent place with a supermassive black hole, current, extreme star formation sites, peculiar gas motions, shocks, high energy UV and X-ray photons, and cosmic rays.

In the SWAG project, we observe 42 spectral lines plus continuum at around 1.5cm wavelengths. The data will be used to characterize the physical conditions in this environment. We will be able to derive temperatures, densities, shocked and UV-dominated regions. We will also be able to characterize ~10,000 molecular clumps across the many environments in this region.

A partner project SWAN ("Survey of Water and Ammonia in Nearby galaxies" maps very similar lines in nearby galaxies, including starburst galaxies, merging galaxies and galaxies that are contain an active nucleus.

Background image: The ATCA pointing at the Galactic Center during a SWAG observation (credit: Emil Lenc)