EVIDENCE FOR A PARSEC-SCALE JET FROM THE GALACTIC CENTER BLACK HOLE: INTERACTION WITH LOCAL GAS
Name
Li-2013-EVIDENCE FOR A PARSE.pdf
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1.05 MB
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Author(s)
Li, Zhiyuan
Morris, Mark R.
Baganoff, Frederick K
Date Issued
December 2013
Journal
Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
Institute of Physics/American Astronomical Society
Citation
Li, Zhiyuan, Mark R. Morris, and Frederick K. Baganoff. “EVIDENCE FOR A PARSEC-SCALE JET FROM THE GALACTIC CENTER BLACK HOLE: INTERACTION WITH LOCAL GAS.” The Astrophysical Journal 779, no. 2 (December 20, 2013): 154. © 2013 American Astronomical Society.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Despite strong physical reasons that they should exist and decades of searching, jets from the Galactic center black hole, Sgr A*, have not yet been convincingly detected. Based on high-resolution Very Large Array images and ultra-deep imaging-spectroscopic data produced by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, we report new evidence for the existence of a parsec-scale jet from Sgr A*, by associating a linear feature G359.944–0.052, previously identified in X-ray images of the Galactic center, with a radio shock front on the Eastern Arm of the Sgr A West H II region. We show that the shock front can be explained in terms of the impact of a jet having a sharp momentum peak along the Galaxy's rotation axis, whereas G359.944–0.052, a quasi-steady feature with a power-law spectrum, can be understood as synchrotron radiation from shock-induced ultra-relativistic electrons cooling in a finite post-shock region downstream along the jet path. Several interesting implications of the jet properties are discussed.
MIT Department
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/779/2/154
