2023Natur.619...41M

Query : 2023Natur.619...41M

2023Natur.619...41M - Nature, 619, 41-45 (2023)

X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year-old flare of Sgr A*.

MARIN F., CHURAZOV E., KHABIBULLIN I., FERRAZZOLI R., DI GESU L., BARNOUIN T., DI MARCO A., MIDDEI R., VIKHLININ A., COSTA E., SOFFITTA P., MULERI F., SUNYAEV R., FORMAN W., KRAFT R., BIANCHI S., DONNARUMMA I., PETRUCCI P.-O., ENOTO T., AGUDO I., ANTONELLI L.A., BACHETTI M., BALDINI L., BAUMGARTNER W.H., BELLAZZINI R., BONGIORNO S.D., BONINO R., BREZ A., BUCCIANTINI N., CAPITANIO F., CASTELLANO S., CAVAZZUTI E., CHEN C.-T., CIPRINI S., DE ROSA A., DEL MONTE E., DI LALLA N., DOROSHENKO V., DOVCIAK M., EHLERT S.R., EVANGELISTA Y., FABIANI S., GARCIA J.A., GUNJI S., HAYASHIDA K., HEYL J., INGRAM A., IWAKIRI W., JORSTAD S.G., KAARET P., KARAS V., KITAGUCHI T., KOLODZIEJCZAK J.J., KRAWCZYNSKI H., LA MONACA F., LATRONICO L., LIODAKIS I., MALDERA S., MANFREDA A., MARINUCCI A., MARSCHER A.P., MARSHALL H.L., MASSARO F., MATT G., MITSUISHI I., MIZUNO T., NEGRO M., NG C.-Y., O'DELL S.L., OMODEI N., OPPEDISANO C., PAPITTO A., PAVLOV G.G., PEIRSON A.L., PERRI M., PESCE-ROLLINS M., PILIA M., POSSENTI A., POUTANEN J., PUCCETTI S., RAMSEY B.D., RANKIN J., RATHEESH A., ROBERTS O.J., ROMANI R.W., SGRO C., SLANE P., SPANDRE G., SWARTZ D., TAMAGAWA T., TAVECCHIO F., TAVERNA R., TAWARA Y., TENNANT A.F., THOMAS N.E., TOMBESI F., TROIS A., TSYGANKOV S.S., TUROLLA R., VINK J., WEISSKOPF M.C., WU K., XIE F. and ZANE S.

Abstract (from CDS):

The centre of the Milky Way Galaxy hosts a black hole with a solar mass of about 4 million (Sagittarius A* (Sgr A)) that is very quiescent at present with a luminosity many orders of magnitude below those of active galactic nuclei. Reflection of X-rays from Sgr A* by dense gas in the Galactic Centre region offers a means to study its past flaring activity on timescales of hundreds and thousands of years2. The shape of the X-ray continuum and the strong fluorescent iron line observed from giant molecular clouds in the vicinity of Sgr A* are consistent with the reflection scenario. If this interpretation is correct, the reflected continuum emission should be polarized. Here we report observations of polarized X-ray emission in the direction of the molecular clouds in the Galactic Centre using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. We measure a polarization degree of 31% ± 11%, and a polarization angle of -48 ± 11 . The polarization angle is consistent with Sgr A* being the primary source of the emission, and the polarization degree implies that some 200 years ago, the X-ray luminosity of Sgr A* was briefly comparable to that of a Seyfert galaxy.


Abstract Copyright: 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited

Journal keyword(s):

Simbad objects: 7

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Number of rows : 7
N Identifier Otype ICRS (J2000)
RA 		ICRS (J2000)
DEC 		Mag U Mag B Mag V Mag R Mag I Sp type #ref
1850 - 2026 		#notes
1 2CXO J174445.4-295045 XB* 17 44 46.1 -29 50 57           ~ 21 0
2 KS 1741-293 LXB 17 44 51.63 -29 20 42.8           ~ 106 0
3 NAME Galactic Center reg 17 45 39.60213 -29 00 22.0000           ~ 16269 0
4 NAME Sgr A* X 17 45 40.03599 -29 00 28.1699           ~ 4970 3
5 2E 3944 LXB 17 46 21.1 -28 43 39     12.50     ~ 126 0
6 CXO J174621.6-285257 X 17 46 21.51 -28 52 56.5           ~ 30 0
7 NAME Sgr B2 MoC 17 47 20.4 -28 23 07           ~ 2443 1

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