The habitability of the Milky Way during the active phase of its central supermassive black hole

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the active phase of the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, could have impacted planetary atmospheres and biological life, especially within a few kiloparsecs, by emitting intense XUV radiation.

Contribution

It quantifies atmospheric loss and biological damage to Earth-like planets caused by Sagittarius A* during its active phase, a novel assessment of galactic habitability impacts.

Findings

Terrestrial planets could lose atmospheric mass comparable to Earth's at ~1 kpc from the galactic center.

Biological damage from XUV radiation was likely significant for planets without proper atmospheric shielding.

The active phase of Sgr A* could have hindered complex life development within a few kiloparsecs.

Abstract

During the peak of their accretion phase, supermassive black holes in galactic cores are known to emit very high levels of ionizing radiation, becoming visible over intergalactic distances as quasars or active galactic nuclei (AGN). Here, we quantify the extent to which the activity of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), may have affected the habitability of Earth-like planets in our Galaxy. We focus on the amount of atmospheric loss and on the possible biological damage suffered by planets exposed to X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation produced during the peak of the active phase of Sgr A*. We find that terrestrial planets could lose a total atmospheric mass comparable to that of present day Earth even at large distances (~1 kiloparsec) from the galactic center. Furthermore, we find that the direct biological damage caused by Sgr A* to surface life on planets not properly screened by an atmosphere was probably significant during the AGN phase, possibly hindering the development of complex life within a few kiloparsecs from the galactic center.