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We have used the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) 12 m telescope at 218 GHz to observe molecular clouds simultaneously in the JKaKc = 303→202, 322→221, and 321→220 transitions of para-H2CO to determine kinetic temperatures of the dense gas in the central molecular zone of the Galaxy. Gas kinetic temperatures for individual molecular clouds range from 55 to 125 K or even higher. The molecular clouds at high temperatures may be heated by turbulent dissipation and/or cosmic-rays.

Chemical properties of extragalactic molecular clouds are summarized. Column densities, relative abundances, and chemical implications are briefly discussed and references for more detailed studies are given. The need for model calculations is emphasized.

We have recently discovered a large-scale (200″) outflow system in the core of OMC-1 (fig. 1), centered about 100″ South of IRc2 and extending over some 120″ (red lobe) resp. 60″ (blue) along a position angle of —31° (Schmid-Burgk et al. 1990). The blue lobe which might actually protrude into the HII region M42 is poorly defined in CO 2-1, but the red lobe reveals a number of remarkable properties which we summarize here:The outflow is very straight and smooth. Over the full length of 120″, the center of any cross scan deviates by not more than about 1″ from a straight line. This line passes to within 2″ the peak of the submm source FIR4 of OMC-1 (Mezger, Wink and Zylka 1990) and the mm continuum peak CS3 (Mundy et al. 1986); it also cuts across the red and blue SiO-outflow lobes recently discovered some 5-10″ to either side of FIR4 (Ziurys, Wilson and Mauersberger 1990). It thus seems that the “base” of our large-scale CO jet can be seen as well.

IC342 (Distance 4 Mpc) is one of the most suitable sources for extragalactic molecular line studies. Toward its nucleus, a great number of molecular species have been found (see Henkel and Mauersberger, 1990); it is also one of the few galaxies investigated in molecular multi-level studies (Mauersberger and Henkel, 1989). In particular, CO shows strong emission: A 7″ resolution interferometric map of the central parts of this galaxy in the 12CO(1—0) transition by Lo et al. (1984) reveals that the circumnuclear molecular gas is distributed in a bar (size 15″ × 70″) (330 × 1500 pc) extending from the nucleus towards the spiral arms. An interferometric map of the 1—0 line of CO by Ishizuki et al. (1990) shows that the inner part of the bar forms a molecular ring of diameter 110 pc. This inner ring also emits 2 and 6 cm continuum radiation (Turner and Ho, 1983). The kinetic temperature of the denser molecular gas is > 50 K (Martin and Ho, 1986). The H2 density of the gas component seen in CO (Eckart et al., 1990) and CS (Mauersberger and Henkel, 1989) is ∼ 104 cm−3.

To use a molecule as a diagnostic of a single star forming region, one has to observe it in different transitions. That is especially true for galaxies, where the beam filling factor is small and unknown. From studies of Galactic objects, the CS molecule is a good tracer of dense gas. Toward the IR galaxies NGC 253, IC 342 and M 82, Mauersberger and Henkel (1989) observed the J=2—1, 3—2 and 5—4 transitions of CS at 3, 2 and 1.3 mm wavelength, repectively. They also measured emission of the isotope C34S, which has an abundance ∼ 1/23 that of the main isotope. This study revealed that the H2 densities in the circumnuclear gas exceed 104, and, in the case of NGC 253, 105 cm−3. In all three cases, the distribution of the dense gas traced out by CS follows the CO distribution.

IC342 (Distance 4 Mpc) is one of the most suitable sources for extragalactic molecular line studies. Toward its nucleus, a great number of molecular species have been found (see Henkel and Mauersberger, 1990); it is also one of the few galaxies investigated in molecular multi-level studies (Mauersberger and Henkel, 1989). In particular, CO shows strong emission: A 7″ resolution interferometric map of the central parts of this galaxy in the 12CO(1—0) transition by Lo et al. (1984) reveals that the circumnuclear molecular gas is distributed in a bar (size 15″ × 70″) (330 × 1500 pc) extending from the nucleus towards the spiral arms. An interferometric map of the 1—0 line of CO by Ishizuki et al. (1990) shows that the inner part of the bar forms a molecular ring of diameter 110 pc. This inner ring also emits 2 and 6 cm continuum radiation (Turner and Ho, 1983). The kinetic temperature of the denser molecular gas is > 50 K (Martin and Ho, 1986). The H2 density of the gas component seen in CO (Eckart et al., 1990) and CS (Mauersberger and Henkel, 1989) is ∼ 104 cm−3.

We have made observations of the (1,1) and (2,2) inversion lines of ammonia (NH3) towards the dark cloud region containing the Herbig-Haro (HH) objects 24–27. These transitions are only excited at H2 densities >104 cm−3, and thus probe high density gas. From the observed hyperfine splitting one can calculate optical depths. The optical depth ratio can be used to determine the rotational temperature T21 which is equal to the kinetic temperature under dark cloud conditions.