The Snake - a Reconnecting Coil in a Twisted Magnetic Flux Tube

Abstract

We propose that the curious Galactic Center filament known as ``The Snake'' is a twisted giant magnetic flux tube, anchored in rotating molecular clouds. The MHD kink instability generates coils in the tube and subsequent magnetic reconnection injects relativistic electrons. Electrons diffuse away from a coil at an energy-dependent rate producing a flat spectral index at large distances from it. Our fit to the data of \citet{gray95a} shows that the magnetic field $\sim 0.4\mathrm{mG}$ is large compared to the ambient $\sim 7\mu \mathrm{G}$ field, indicating that the flux tube is force-free. If the {\em relative} level of turbulence in the Snake and the general interstellar medium are similar, then electrons have been diffusing in the Snake for about $3\times 10^5\mathrm{yr}$, comparable to the timescale at which magnetic energy is annihilated in the major kink. Estimates of the magnetic field in the G359.19-0.05 molecular complex are similar to our estimate of the magnetic field in the Snake suggesting a strong connection between the physics of the anchoring molecular regions and the Snake. We suggest that the physical processes considered here may be relevant to many of the radio filaments near the Galactic Center. We also suggest further observations of the Snake and other filaments that would be useful for obtaining further insights into the physics of these objects.

11 pages, 1 figure

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Interstellar magnetic fields in the Galactic center region
• Milestones in the Observations of Cosmic Magnetic Fields
• Filament formation in wind-cloud interactions. I. Spherical clouds in uniform magnetic fields
• Observations of magnetic fields in the Milky Way and in nearby galaxies with a Square Kilometre Array
• Probing Cosmic Ray Transport with Radio Synchrotron Harps in the Galactic Center
• Turbulent Origin of the Galactic-Center Magnetic Field: Nonthermal Radio Filaments
• The Origin of the Galactic Center Nonthermal Radio Filaments: Young Stellar Clusters
• Statistical Properties of the Population of the Galactic Center Filaments: The Spectral Index and Equipartition Magnetic Field
• A New System of Parallel Isolated Nonthermal Filaments Near the Galactic Center: Evidence for a Local Magnetic Field Gradient
• Cosmic-ray driven outflow from the galactic center and the origin of magnetized radio filaments
• Shocked molecular gas towards the SNR G359.1-0.5 and the Snake
• Chandra large-scale mapping of the Galactic center: Probing high-energy structures around the central molecular zone
• Populations of Magnetized Filaments in the Intracluster Medium and the Galactic Center
• Statistical Properties of the Population of the Galactic Center Filaments II: The Spacing Between Filaments
• The population of Galactic centre filaments III: candidate radio and stellar sources
• 2 mm GISMO Observations of the Galactic Center. II. A Nonthermal Filament in the Radio Arc and Compact Sources
• Nonthermal filaments from the tidal destruction of clouds in the Galactic center
• G0.173-0.42: an X-ray and radio magnetized filament near the galactic center