The Population of the Galactic Center Filaments: Position Angle Distribution Reveals a Degree-scale Collimated Outflow from Sgr A* along the Galactic Plane
dc.contributor.author | Yusef-Zadeh, F. | |
dc.contributor.author | Arendt, Richard | |
dc.contributor.author | Wardle, M. | |
dc.contributor.author | Heywood, I. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2023-06-20T19:14:42Z | |
dc.date.available | 2023-06-20T19:14:42Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2023-06-02 | |
dc.description.abstract | We have examined the distribution of the position angle (PA) of the Galactic center filaments with lengths L > 66" and <66" as well as their length distribution as a function of PA. We find bimodal PA distributions of the filaments, and long and short populations of radio filaments. Our PA study shows the evidence for a distinct population of short filaments with PA close to the Galactic plane. Mainly thermal, short-radio filaments (<66") have PAs concentrated close to the Galactic plane within 60° < PA < 120°. Remarkably, the short filament PAs are radial with respect to the Galactic center at l < 0° and extend in the direction toward Sgr A* . On a smaller scale, the prominent Sgr E H II complex G358.7-0.0 provides a vivid example of the nearly radial distribution of short filaments. The bimodal PA distribution suggests a different origin for two distinct filament populations. We argue that the alignment of the short filament population results from the ram pressure of a degree-scale outflow from Sgr A* that exceeds the internal filament pressure, and aligns them along the Galactic plane. The ram pressure is estimated to be 2 × 10⁶ cm⁻³ K at a distance of 300 pc, requiring biconical mass outflow rate 10⁻⁴ M⊙ yr⁻¹ with an opening angle of ∼40°. This outflow aligns not only the magnetized filaments along the Galactic plane but also accelerates thermal material associated with embedded or partially embedded clouds. This places an estimate of ∼6 Myr as the age of the outflow. | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | Work by R.G.A. was supported by NASA under award number 80GSFC21M0002. The MeerKAT telescope is operated by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is a facility of the National Research Foundation, an agency of the Department of Science and Innovation. | en_US |
dc.description.uri | https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/acd54b | en_US |
dc.format.extent | 14 pages | en_US |
dc.genre | journal articles | en_US |
dc.identifier | doi:10.13016/m2df6q-3w9j | |
dc.identifier.citation | Yusef-Zadeh, F., et al. "The Population of the Galactic Center Filaments: Position Angle Distribution Reveals a Degree-scale Collimated Outflow from Sgr A* along the Galactic Plane." The Astrophysical Journal Letters 949, L31 (02 June, 2023). https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acd54b. | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acd54b | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11603/28234 | |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.publisher | AAS | en_US |
dc.relation.isAvailableAt | The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) | |
dc.relation.ispartof | UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology | |
dc.relation.ispartof | UMBC Faculty Collection | |
dc.rights | This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author. | en_US |
dc.rights | Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | * |
dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | * |
dc.title | The Population of the Galactic Center Filaments: Position Angle Distribution Reveals a Degree-scale Collimated Outflow from Sgr A* along the Galactic Plane | en_US |
dc.type | Text | en_US |
dcterms.creator | https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8403-8548 | en_US |