X-ray Filament with a Strong 6.7 keV Line in the Galactic Center Region

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of an elongated X-ray filament in the Galactic center with a strong 6.7 keV iron line, characterized by thermal plasma properties similar to the surrounding Galactic center emission.

Contribution

It identifies a new X-ray filament with a prominent iron line, providing detailed spectral analysis and linking it to the Galactic center environment.

Findings

Detected a filament with a strong 6.7 keV iron line.

Spectral analysis shows thermal plasma with specific temperature and abundance.

The filament's properties are consistent with Galactic center emission.

Abstract

An elongated X-ray source with a strong K-shell line from He-like iron (Fe XXVI) is found at (RA, Dec)_{J2000.0}=(17h44m00s.0, -29D13'40''.9) in the Galactic center region. The position coincides with the X-ray thread, G359.55+0.16, which is aligned with the radio non-thermal filament. The X-ray spectrum is well fitted with an absorbed thin thermal plasma (apec) model. The best-fit temperature, metal abundance, and column density are 4.1^{+2.7}_{-1.8} keV, 0.58^{+0.41}_{-0.32} solar, and 6.1^{+2.5}_{-1.3}x10^{22} cm^{-2}, respectively. These values are similar to those of the largely extended Galactic center X-ray emission.