Evidence for A Parsec-scale Jet from The Galactic Center Black Hole: Interaction with Local Gas

Abstract

Despite strong physical reasons that they should exist and decades of search, 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 HII 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 ultrarelativistic electrons cooling in a finite post-shock region downstream along the jet path. Several interesting implications of the jet properties are discussed.

33 pages, 7 figures; Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

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• First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Testing Astrophysical Models of the Galactic Center Black Hole
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• Observational appearance of inefficient accretion flows and jets in 3D GRMHD simulations: Application to Sgr~A*
• The Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole: How good a case is it? A Challenge for Astrophysics & Philosophy of Science
• Hydrodynamic Simulations of the Inner Accretion Flow of Sagittarius A* Fueled By Stellar Winds
• Horizon-Scale Lepton Acceleration in Jets: Explaining the Compact Radio Emission in M87
• Modeling Seven Years of Event Horizon Telescope Observations with Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flow Models
• A Luminous Infrared Merger with Two Bipolar Molecular Outflows: ALMA and SMA Observations of NGC 3256
• Persistent Asymmetric Structure of Sagittarius A* on Event Horizon Scales
• Event-Horizon-Telescope Evidence for Alignment of the Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way with the Inner Stellar Disk
• ALMA and VLA measurements of frequency-dependent time lags in Sagittarius A*: evidence for a relativistic outflow
• The Intrinsic Two-Dimensional Size of Sagittarius A*
• Effect of Electromagnetic Interaction on Galactic Center Flare Components
• SOHO Comets: 20-Years and 3,000 Objects Later
• Precession-induced Variability in AGN Jets and OJ 287
• A New Perspective of the Radio Bright Zone at The Galactic Center: Feedback from Nuclear Activities
• Diffuse X-Ray Sky in the Galactic Center
• Spinning black holes magnetically connected to a Keplerian disk -- Magnetosphere, reconnection sheet, particle acceleration and coronal heating
• Reconnection-driven flares in 3D black hole magnetospheres -- A scenario for hot spots around Sagittarius A*
• Evidence for a jet and outflow from Sgr A*: a continuum and spectral line study
• The intrinsic structure of Sagittarius A* at 1.3 cm and 7 mm
• A magnetized torus for modeling Sgr A* millimeter images and spectra
• A Deep Chandra View of A Candidate Parsec-Scale Jet from the Galactic Center Super-massive Black Hole
• A Nonthermal Radio Filament Connected to the Galactic Black Hole?
• Depletion of bright red giants in the Galactic center during its active phases
• Post-Newtonian direct and mixed orbital effects due to the oblateness of the central body
• No asymmetric outflows from Sagittarius A* during the pericenter passage of the gas cloud G2
• Tracing the Milky Way's Vestigial Nuclear Jet
• Sgr A* and its Environment: Low Mass Star Formation, the Origin of X-ray Gas and Collimated Outflow
• Misaligned jets from Sgr A${}^{\ast }$ and the origin of Fermi/eROSITA bubbles
• ALMA Detection of Extreme Blue-Shifted Ionized Gas Within 0.2 pc of Sgr A* from -480 to -300 km/s
• How does an asymmetric magnetic field change the vertical structure of a hot accretion flow?
• The Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone
• The X-ray footprint of the CircumNuclear Disk
• Resolving the Nuclear Radio Emission from M32 with Very Large Array
• Chandra X-ray Measurement of Gas-phase Heavy Element Abundances in the Central Parsec of the Galaxy
• Magnetic flux eruptions at the root of time-lags in low-luminosity AGN
• Very Large Array multi-band monitoring observations of M 31*
• Exact analytical solutions for ADAFs
• Hydrodynamic Evolution of Sgr A East: The Imprint of A Supernova Remnant in the Galactic Center
• Red giant - jet collisions in galactic nuclei I: 3D hydrodynamical model of a few stellar orbits
• X-rays from a Central "Exhaust Vent" of the Galactic Center Chimney
• Searching for Radio Outflows from M31* with VLBI Observations
• Missing bright red giants in the Galactic center: A fingerprint of its once active state?
• The Discovery of an Active Wind from the Milky Way's Black Hole
• Fermi bubble simulations: black hole feedback in the Milky Way