The High-Density Ionized Gas in the Central Parsec of the Galaxy

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution radio observations to analyze the ionized gas structure, physical conditions, and dynamics of the minispiral near Sgr A* in the Galactic center, revealing detailed gas properties and interactions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed physical and kinematic model of the minispiral using combined H30α and H92α line data, revealing gas densities, temperatures, and orbital motions.

Findings

Electron densities of 3-21×10^4 cm^-3 in the minispiral arms

Gas temperatures between 5,000 and 13,000 K

Identification of gas collision regions and ionizing photon sources

Abstract

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 2\arcsec\ over a field of 60\arcsec\ (2 parsec) and a velocity range of -360 to +345 \kms. This field encompasses most of the Galactic center's "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 $3\times10^{50}$ 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.