No Arabic abstract
We report a new 1-pc (30) resolution CS($J=2-1$) line map of the central 30 pc of the Galactic Center (GC), made with the Nobeyama 45m telescope. We revisit our previous study of the extraplanar feature called polar arc (PA), which is a molecular cloud located above SgrA* with a velocity gradient perpendicular to the Galactic plane. We find that the PA can be traced back to the Galactic disk. This provides clues of the launching point of the PA , roughly $6times10^{6}$ years ago. Implications of the dynamical time scale of the PA might be related to the Galactic Center Lobe (GCL) at parsec scale. Our results suggest that in the central 30 pc of the GC, the feedback from past explosions could alter the orbital path of the molecular gas down to the central tenth of parsec. In the follow-up work of our new CS($J=2-1$) map, we also find that near the systemic velocity, the molecular gas shows an extraplanar hourglass-shaped feature (HG-feature) with a size of $sim$13 pc. The latitude-velocity diagrams show that the eastern edge of the HG-feature is associated with an expanding bubble B1, $sim$7 pc away from SgrA*. The dynamical time scale of this bubble is $sim3times10^{5}$ years. This bubble is interacting with the 50 km s$^{-1}$ cloud. Part of the molecular gas from the 50 km s$^{-1}$ cloud was swept away by the bubble to $b=-0.2deg$. The western edge of the HG-feature seems to be the molecular gas entrained from the 20 km s$^{-1}$ cloud towards the north of the Galactic disk. Our results suggest a fossil explosion in the central 30 pc of the GC a few 10$^{5}$ years ago.
We present CS(7-6) line maps toward the central parsec of the Galactic Center (GC), conducted with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The primary goal is to find and characterize the gas structure in the inner cavity of the circumnuclear disk (CND) in high resolution (1.3=0.05 pc). Our large field-of-view mosaic maps -- combining interferometric and single-dish data that recover extended emission - provide a first homogeneous look to resolve and link the molecular streamers in the CND with the neutral nuclear filaments newly detected within the central cavity of the CND. We find that the nuclear filaments are rotating with Keplerian velocities in a nearly face-on orbit with an inclination angle of ~10-20 degree (radius <= 0.5 pc). This is in contrast to the CND which is highly inclined at ~65-80 degree (radius ~2-5 pc). Our analysis suggests a highly warped structure from the CND to the nuclear filaments. This result may hint that the nuclear filaments and the CND were created by different external clouds passing by Sgr A*.
We study a possible connection between processes of gamma-ray emission and hydrogen ionization in a few pc of central region around Sgr A*. Previous investigations showed there is a discrepancy between interpretation of gamma-ray and ionization data if gamma-rays are generated by proton-proton collisions. Here we provided analysis of processes of ionization and emission basing on analytical and numerical calculations of kinetic equations which describe processes of particle propagation and their energy losses. The origin of gamma rays could be either due to collisions of relativistic protons with the dense gas of the surrounding circumnuclear disk (CND) or bremsstrahlung and inverse Compton scattering of relativistic electrons. The hydrogen ionization in this case is produced by a low energy component of the CR spectrum. We found that if ionization is produced by protons the expected ionization rate of hydrogen in the CND is of the same order as derived from IR observations. So we do not see any discrepancy between the gamma-ray and ionization data for the hadronic model. In the case of ionization by electrons we obtained the ionization rate one order of magnitude higher than follows from the IR data. In principle, a selection between the leptonic and hadronic interpretations can be performed basing on measurements of radio and X-ray fluxes from this region because the leptonic and hadronic models give different values of the fluxes from there. We do not exclude that gamma-ray production and hydrogen ionization in the CND are due to a past activity of Sgr A* which occurred about 100 year ago. Then we hypothesize that there may be connection between a past proton eruption and a flux of hard X-rays emitted by Sgr A* hundred years ago as follows from the observed time variability of the iron line seen in the direction of GC molecular clouds.
Infrared absorption lines of H3+, including the metastable R(3,3)l line, have been observed toward eight bright infrared sources associated with hot and massive stars located in and between the Galactic Center Cluster and the Quintuplet Cluster 30 pc to the east. The absorption lines with high velocity dispersion arise in the Galaxys Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) as well as in foreground spiral arms. The temperature and density of the gas in the CMZ, as determined from the relative strengths of the H3+ lines, are T=200-300K and n=50-200cm^-3. The detection of high column densities of H3+ toward all eight stars implies that this warm and diffuse gaseous environment is widespread in the CMZ. The products of the ionization rate and path length for these sight lines are 1000 and 10 times higher than in dense and diffuse clouds in the Galactic disk, respectively, indicating that the ionization rate, zeta, is not less than 10^-15 s^-1 and that L is at least on the order of 50 pc. The warm and diffuse gas is an important component of the CMZ, in addition to the three previously known gaseous environments: (1) cold molecular clouds observed by radio emission of CO and other molecules, (2) hot (T=10^4-10^6K) and highly ionized diffuse gas (n_e=10-100cm^-3) seen in radio recombination lines, far infrared atomic lines, and radio-wave scattering, and (3) ultra-hot (T=10^7-10^8K) X-ray emitting plasma. Its prevalence significantly changes the understanding of the environment of the CMZ. The sight line toward GC IRS 3 is unique in showing an additional H3+ absorption component, which is interpreted as due to either a cloud associated with circumnuclear disk or the 50 km s^-1 cloud known from radio observations. An infrared pumping scheme is examined as a mechanism to populate the (3,3) metastable level in this cloud.
Outflows and feedback are key ingredients of galaxy evolution. Evidence for an outflow arising from the Galactic center (GC) has recently been discovered at different wavelength. We show that the X-ray, radio, and infrared emissions are deeply interconnected, affecting one another and forming coherent features on scales of hundreds of parsecs, therefore indicating a common physical link associated with the GC outflow. We debate the location of the northern chimney and suggest that it might be located on the front side of the GC because of a significant tilt of the chimneys toward us. We report the presence of strong shocks at the interface between the chimneys and the interstellar medium, which are traced by radio and warm dust emission. We observe entrained molecular gas outflowing within the chimneys, revealing the multiphase nature of the outflow. In particular, the molecular outflow produces a long, strong, and structured shock along the northwestern wall of the chimney. Because of the different dynamical times of the various components of the outflow, the chimneys appear to be shaped by directed large-scale winds launched at different epochs. The data support the idea that the chimneys are embedded in an (often dominant) vertical magnetic field, which likely diverges with increasing latitude. We observe that the thermal pressure associated with the hot plasma appears to be smaller than the ram pressure of the molecular outflow and the magnetic pressure. This leaves open the possibility that either the main driver of the outflow is more powerful than the observed hot plasma, or the chimneys represent a relic of past and more powerful activity. These multiwavelength observations corroborate the idea that the chimneys represent the channel connecting the quasi-continuous, but intermittent, activity at the GC with the base of the Fermi bubbles.
We describe a population of small, high velocity, atomic hydrogen clouds, loops, and filaments found above and below the disk near the Galactic Center. The objects have a mean radius of 15 pc, velocity widths of $sim 14$ km/s and are observed at $|z|$ heights up to 700 pc. The velocity distribution of the clouds shows no signature of Galactic rotation. We propose a scenario where the clouds are associated with an outflow from a central star-forming region at the Galactic Center. We discuss the clouds as entrained material traveling at $sim 200$ km/s in a Galactic wind.