Based on our deep image of Sgr A using broadband data observed with the Jansky VLA at 6 cm, we present a new perspective of the radio bright zone at the Galactic center. We further show the radio detection of the X-ray Cannonball, a candidate neutron
star associated with the Galactic center SNR Sgr A East. The radio image is compared with the Chandra X-ray image to show the detailed structure of the radio counterparts of the bipolar X-ray lobes. The bipolar lobes are likely produced by the winds from the activities within Sgr A West, which could be collimated by the inertia of gas in the CND, or by the momentum driving of Sgr A*; and the poloidal magnetic fields likely play an important role in the collimation. The less-collimated SE lobe, in comparison to the NW one, is perhaps due to the fact that the Sgr A East SN might have locally reconfigured the magnetic field toward negative galactic latitudes. In agreement with the X-ray observations, the time-scale of ~ $1times10^4$ yr estimated for the outermost radio ring appears to be comparable to the inferred age of the Sgr A East SNR.
We report the VLA detection of the radio counterpart of the X-ray object referred to as the Cannonball, which has been proposed to be the remnant neutron star resulting from the creation of the Galactic Center supernova remnant, Sagittarius A East. T
he radio object was detected both in our new VLA image from observations in 2012 at 5.5 GHz and in archival VLA images from observations in 1987 at 4.75 GHz and in the period from 1990 to 2002 at 8.31 GHz. The radio morphology of this object is characterized as a compact, partially resolved point source located at the northern tip of a radio tongue similar to the X-ray structure observed by Chandra. Behind the Cannonball, a radio counterpart to the X-ray plume is observed. This object consists of a broad radio plume with a size of 30arcsec$times$15arcsec, followed by a linear tail having a length of 30arcsec. The compact head and broad plume sources appear to have relatively flat spectra ($propto u^alpha$) with mean values of $alpha=-0.44pm0.08$ and $-0.10pm0.02$, respectively; and the linear tail shows a steep spectrum with the mean value of $-1.94pm0.05$. The total radio luminosity integrated from these components is $sim8times10^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$, while the emission from the head and tongue amounts for only $sim1.5times10^{31}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Based on the images obtained from the two epochs observations at 5 GHz, we infer the proper motion of the object: $mu_alpha = 0.001 pm0.003$ arcsec yr$^{-1}$ and $mu_delta = 0.013 pm0.003$ arcsec yr$^{-1}$. With an implied velocity of 500 km s$^{-1}$, a plausible model can be constructed in which a runaway neutron star surrounded by a pulsar wind nebula was created in the event that produced Sgr A East. The inferred age of this object, assuming that its origin coincides with the center of Sgr A East, is approximately 9000 years.
We present high angular resolution continuum observations of the high-mass protostar NGC 7538S with BIMA and CARMA at 3 and 1.4 mm, VLA observations at 1.3, 2, 3.5 and 6 cm, and archive IRAC observations from the Spitzer Space Observatory, which dete
ct the star at 4.5, 5.8, and 8 $mu$m. The star looks rather unremarkable in the mid-IR. The excellent positional agreement of the IRAC source with the VLA free-free emission, the OH, CH$_3$OH, H$_2$O masers, and the dust continuum confirms that this is the most luminous object in the NGC 7538S core. The continuum emission at millimeter wavelengths is dominated by dust emission from the dense cold cloud core surrounding the protostar. Including all array configurations, the emission is dominated by an elliptical source with a size of ~ 8 x 3. If we filter out the extended emission we find three compact mm-sources inside the elliptical core. The strongest one, $S_A$, coincides with the VLA/IRAC source and resolves into a double source at 1.4 mm, where we have sub-arcsecond resolution. The measured spectral index, $alpha$, between 3 and 1.4 mm is ~ 2.3, and steeper at longer wavelengths, suggesting a low dust emissivity or that the dust is optically thick. We argue that the dust in these accretion disks is optically thick and estimate a mass of an accretion disk or infalling envelope surrounding S$_A$ to be ~ 60 solar masses.
The ionized core in the Sgr B2 Main star-forming region was imaged using the Submillimeter Array archival data observed for the H26$alpha$ line and continuum emission at 0.86 millimeter with an angular resolution 0.3arcsec. Eight hyper-compact H26$al
pha$ emission sources were detected with a typical size in the range of 1.6--20$times10^2$ AU and electron density of 0.3--3$times10^7$ cm$^{-3}$, corresponding to the emission measure 0.4--8.4$times10^{10}$ cm$^{-6}$ pc. The H26$alpha$ line fluxes from the eight hyper-compact HII sources imply that the ionization for each of the sources must be powered by a Lyman continuum flux from an O star or a cluster of B stars. The most luminous H26$alpha$ source among the eight detected requires an O6 star that appears to be embedded in the ultra-compact HII region F3. In addition, $sim$ 23 compact continuum emission sources were also detected within the central 5arcsec$times$3arcsec,($sim0.2$ pc) region. In the assumption of a power-law distribution for the dust temperature, with the observed brightness temperature of the dust emission we determined the physical properties of the submillimeter emission sources showing that the molecular densities are in the range of 1--10$times10^8$ cm$^{-3}$, surface densities between 13 to 150 $g$ cm$^{-2}$, and total gas masses in the range from 5 to $gtrsim$ 200 $M_odot$ which are 1 or 2 orders of magnitude greater than the corresponding values of the Bonnor-Ebert mass. With a mean free-fall time scale of 2$times10^3$ y, each of the massive protostellar cores are undergoing gravitational collapse to form new massive stars in the Sgr B2 Main core.
We report a study of the H30$alpha$ line emission at 1.3 mm from the region around Sgr A* made with the Submillimeter Array at a resolution of 2arcsec over a field of 60arcsec (2 parsec) and a velocity range of -360 to +345 kms. This field encompasse
s most of the Galactic centers minispiral. With an isothermal homogeneous HII model, we determined the physical conditions of the ionized gas at specific locations in the Northern and Eastern Arms from the H30$alpha$ line data along with Very Large Array data from the H92$alpha$ line at 3.6 cm and from the radio continuum emission at 1.3 cm. The typical electron density and kinetic temperature in the minispiral arms are 3-21$times10^4$ cm$^{-3}$ and 5,000-13,000 K, respectively. The H30$alpha$ and H92$alpha$ line profiles are broadened due to the large velocity shear within and along the beam produced by dynamical motions in the strong gravitational field near Sgr A*. We constructed a 3D model of the minispiral using the orbital parameters derived under the assumptions that the gas flows are in Keplerian motion. The gas in the Eastern Arm appears to collide with the Northern Arm flow in the Bar region, which is located 0.1-0.2 parsec south of and behind Sgr A*. Finally, a total Lyman continuum flux of $3times10^{50}$ photons s$^{-1}$ is inferred from the assumption that the gas is photoionized and the ionizing photons for the high-density gas in the minispiral arms are from external sources, which is equivalent to $sim250$ O9-type zero-age-main-sequence stars.
We report the results from observations of H30$alpha$ line emission in Sgr A West with the Submillimeter Array at a resolution of 2arcsec and a field of view of about 40arcsec. The H30$alpha$ line is sensitive to the high-density ionized gas in the m
inispiral structure. We compare the velocity field obtained from H30$alpha$ line emission to a Keplerian model, and our results suggest that the supermassive black hole at Sgr A* dominates the dynamics of the ionized gas. However, we also detect significant deviations from the Keplerian motion, which show that the impact of strong stellar winds from the massive stars along the ionized flows and the interaction between Northern and Eastern arms play significant roles in the local gas dynamics.
We investigate the spin/charge transport in a one-dimensional strongly correlated system by using the adaptive time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group method. The model we consider is a non-half-filled Hubbard chain with a bond of control
lable spin-dependent electron hoppings, which is found to cause a blockade of spin current with little influence on charge current. We have considered (1) the spread of a wave packet of both spin and charge in the Hubbard chain and (2) the spin and charge currents induced by a spin-dependent voltage bias that is applied to the ideal leads attached at the ends of this Hubbard chain. It is found that the spin-charge separation plays a crucial role in the spin-current blockade, and one may utilize this phenomenon to observe the spin-charge separation directly.
Observations of two H$_2$CO ($3_{03}-2_{02}$ and $3_{21}-2_{20}$) lines and continuum emission at 1.3 mm towards Sgr B2(N) and Sgr B2(M) have been carried out with the SMA. The mosaic maps of Sgr B2(N) and Sgr B2(M) in both continuum and lines show a
complex distribution of dust and molecular gas in both clumps and filaments surrounding the compact star formation cores. We have observed a decelerating outflow originated from the Sgr B2(M) core, showing that both the red-shifted and blue-shifted outflow components have a common terminal velocity. This terminal velocity is 58$pm$2 km s$^{-1}$. It provides an excellent method in determination of the systematic velocity of the molecular cloud. The SMA observations have also shown that a large fraction of absorption against the two continuum cores is red-shifted with respect to the systematic velocities of Sgr B2(N) and Sgr B2(M), respectively, suggesting that the majority of the dense molecular gas is flowing into the two major cores where massive stars have been formed. We have solved the radiative transfer in a multi-level system with LVG approximation. The observed H$_2$CO line intensities and their ratios can be adequately fitted with this model for the most of the gas components. However, the line intensities between the higher energy level transition H$_2$CO ($3_{21}-2_{20}$) and the lower energy level transition H$_2$CO ($3_{03}-2_{02}$) is reversed in the red-shifted outflow region of Sgr B2(M), suggesting the presence of inversion in population between the ground levels in the two K ladders (K$_{-1}$= 0 and 2). The possibility of weak maser processes for the H$_2$CO emission in Sgr B2(M) is discussed.
The knowledge of magnetic topology is the key to understand magnetic energy release in astrophysics. Based on observed vector magnetograms, we have determined threedimensional (3D) topology skeleton of the magnetic fields in active region NOAA 10720.
The skeleton consists of six 3D magnetic nulls and a network of corresponding spines, fans, and null-null lines. For the first time, we have identified a spiral magnetic null in Suns corona. The magnetic lines of force twisted around the spine of the null, forming a magnetic wreath with excess of free magnetic energy and resembling observed brightening structures at extraultraviolet (EUV) wavebands. We found clear evidence of topology eruptions which are referred to as the catastrophic changes of topology skeleton associated with a coronal mass ejection (CME) and an explosive X-ray flare. These results shed new lights in exploring the structural complexity and its role in explosive magnetic activity. In solar astrophysics and space science, the concept of flux rope has been widely used in modelling explosive magnetic activity, although their observational identity is obscure or, at least, lacking of necessary details. The current work suggests that the magnetic wreath associated with the 3D spiral null is likely an important class of the physical entity of flux ropes.
