2011MNRAS.411.1367N

We present 12 mm Mopra observations of dense molecular gas towards the W28 supernova remnant (SNR) field. The focus is on the dense molecular gas towards the TeV gamma-ray sources detected by the HESS telescopes, which likely trace the cosmic rays from W28 and possibly other sources in the region. Using the NH₃ inversion transitions we reveal several dense cores inside the molecular clouds, the majority of which coincide with high-mass star formation and H II regions, including the energetic ultracompact H II region G5.89-0.39. A key exception to this is the cloud north-east of W28, which is well known to be disrupted as evidenced by clusters of 1720 MHz OH masers and broad CO line emission. Here we detect broad NH₃, up to the (9,9) transition, with linewidths up to 16 km/s. This broad NH₃ emission spatially matches well with the TeV source HESS J1801-233 and CO emission, and its velocity dispersion distribution suggests external disruption from the W28 SNR direction. Other lines are detected, such as HC₃ N and HC₅N, H₂ O masers, and many radio recombination lines, all of which are primarily found towards the southern high-mass star formation regions. These observations provide a new view on to the internal structures and dynamics of the dense molecular gas towards the W28 SNR field and, in tandem with future higher-resolution TeV gamma-ray observations, will offer the chance to probe the transport of cosmic rays into molecular clouds.