Dense Molecular Gas in the Galactic Bar Dust Lanes

Roughly half of all spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way galaxy, contain a galactic bar. The dust lane features within the Galactic Bar are thought to mediate the flow of material from the Galactic Disk towards the Galactic Center, fueling the extreme environment found within the Central Molecular Zone. Therefore, the study of galaxy bars is important for our understanding of how galaxies evolve. The close proximity to our own galactic bar makes this one the ideal candidate to study. However, because we have to observe through the plane, this makes contamination difficult. We were recently awarded ~30 hours on the Green Bank Telescope to observe two pilot regions in the Galactic Bar dust lanes. These observations targeted the (1,1)-(3,3) transitions of ammonia (NH3) and showed multiple dense clouds within the Galactic Bar dust lanes. In my talk I will discuss the kinematic and physical properties of the gas in the recently identified dust lane features within the Galactic Bar and compare these properties to those observed in the Galactic Disk and the Galactic Center.