Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userNonthermal filaments from the tidal destruction of clouds in the Galactic center
115
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
Synchrotron-emitting, nonthermal filaments (NTFs) have been observed near the Galactic center for nearly four decades, yet their physical origin remains unclear. Here we investigate the possibility that NTFs are produced by the destruction of molecular clouds by the gravitational potential of the Galactic center. We show that this model predicts the formation of a filamentary structure with length on the order of tens to hundreds of pc, a highly ordered magnetic field along the axis of the filament, and conditions conducive to magnetic reconnection that result in particle acceleration. This model therefore yields the observed magnetic properties of NTFs and a population of relativistic electrons, without the need to appeal to a dipolar, $sim$ mG, Galactic magnetic field. As the clouds can be both completely or partially disrupted, this model provides a means of establishing the connection between filamentary structures and molecular clouds that is observed in some, but not all, cases.
rate research
Read More
We present 74 MHz radio continuum observations of the Galactic center region. These measurements show nonthermal radio emission arising from molecular clouds that is unaffected by free-free absorption along the line of sight. We focus on one cloud, G0.13--0.13, representative of the population of molecular clouds that are spatially correlated with steep spectrum (alpha^{74MHz}_{327MHz}=1.3pm0.3) nonthermal emission from the Galactic center region. This cloud lies adjacent to the nonthermal radio filaments of the Arc near l~0.2^0 and is a strong source of 74 MHz continuum, SiO (2-1) and FeI Kalpha 6.4 keV line emission. This three-way correlation provides the most compelling evidence yet that relativistic electrons, here traced by 74 MHz emission, are physically associated with the G0.13--0.13 molecular cloud and that low energy cosmic ray electrons are responsible for the FeI Kalpha line emission. The high cosmic ray ionization rate ~10-13 s-1 H-1 is responsible for heating the molecular gas to high temperatures and allows the disturbed gas to maintain a high velocity dispersion. LVG modeling of multi-transition SiO observations of this cloud implies H2 densities ~104-5 cm-3 and high temperatures. The lower limit to the temperature of G0.13-0.13 is ~100K, whereas the upper limit is as high as 1000K. Lastly, we used a time-dependent chemical model in which cosmic rays drive the chemistry of the gas to investigate for molecular line diagnostics of cosmic ray heating. When the cloud reaches chemical equilibrium, the abundance ratios of HCN/HNC and N2H+/HCO+ are consistent with measured values. In addition, significant abundance of SiO is predicted in the cosmic ray dominated region of the Galactic center. We discuss different possibilities to account for the origin of widespread SiO emission detected from Galactic center molecular clouds.
We present a survey of molecules in a sample of Galactic center molecular clouds using the Karl G. Jansky Very large Array, which includes M0.25+0.01, the clouds near Sgr A, and Sgr B2. The molecules detected are primarily NH3 and HC3N; in Sgr B2-N we also detect nonmetastable NH3, vibrationally-excited HC3N, torsionally-excited CH3OH, and numerous isotopologues of these species. 36 GHz Class I CH3OH masers are ubiquitous in these fields, and in several cases are associated with new NH3 (3,3) maser candidates. We also find that NH3 and HC3N are depleted or absent toward several of the highest dust column density peaks identified in submillimeter observations, which are associated with water masers and are thus likely in the early stages of star formation.
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 have studied the filaments extracted from the column density maps of the nearby Lupus 1, 3, and 4 molecular clouds, derived from photometric maps observed with the Herschel satellite. Filaments in the Lupus clouds have quite low column densities, with a median value of $sim$1.5$times$10$^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$ and most have masses per unit length lower than the maximum critical value for radial gravitational collapse. Indeed, no evidence of filament contraction has been seen in the gas kinematics. We find that some filaments, that on average are thermally subcritical, contain dense cores that may eventually form stars. This is an indication that in the low column density regime, the critical condition for the formation of stars may be reached only locally and this condition is not a global property of the filament. Finally, in Lupus we find multiple observational evidences of the key role that the magnetic field plays in forming filaments, and determining their confinement and dynamical evolution.
This letter presents a Nyquist-sampled, high-resolution [CI] 3P1-3P0 map of the -0.2 deg < l < 1.2 deg x -0.1 deg < b < 0 deg region in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) taken with the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) 10 m telescope. We have found that molecular clouds in the CMZ can be classified into two groups according to their [CI]/13CO intensity ratios: a bulk component consisting with clouds with a low, uniform [CI]/13CO ratio (0.45) and another component consisting of clouds with high [CI]/13CO ratios (> 0.8). The [CI]-enhanced regions appear in M-0.02-0.07, the circumnuclear disk, the 180-pc ring and the high velocity compact cloud CO+0.02-0.02. We have carried out a large velocity gradient (LVG) analysis and have derived the C^0/CO column density ratio for M-0.02-0.07 as 0.47, which is approximately twice that of the bulk component of the CMZ (0.26). We propose several hypotheses on the origin of high C^0 abundance in M-0.02-0.07, including cosmic-ray/X-ray dissociation and mechanical dissociation of CO in the pre-existing molecular clouds. We also suggest the possibility that M-0.02-0.07 is a cloud at an early stage of chemical evolution from diffuse gas, which was possibly formed by the bar-induced mass inflow in the Galactic Center region.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
