Statistical Properties of the Population of the Galactic Center Filaments: The Spectral Index and Equipartition Magnetic Field

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution MeerKAT images to analyze the spectral index and magnetic fields of Galactic center filaments, revealing their properties, origins, and relation to cosmic-ray activity and large-scale structures.

Contribution

First comprehensive population analysis of Galactic center filaments' spectral indices and magnetic fields, suggesting cosmic-ray driven winds and past Sgr A* activity as their origin.

Findings

Filaments have steeper spectral indices than SNRs (-0.83 vs. -0.62).

Spectral index varies more widely, indicating different origins.

Magnetic field strengths range from 100 to 400 μG along filaments.

Abstract

We present high-pass filtered continuum images of the inner $3.5^\circ\times2.5^\circ$ of the Galactic center at 20 cm with $6.4''$ resolution. These mosaic images are taken with MeerKAT and reveal a large number of narrow filaments, roughly an order of magnitude increase in their numbers compared to past measurements. For the first time, we carry out population studies of the spectral index and magnetic field of the entire region. The mean spectral indices of the filaments are steeper than supernova remnants (SNRs) (-0.62) with a value of $\alpha\sim-0.83$. The variation in $\alpha$ is much larger than for the SNRs, suggesting that these characteristics have a different origin. A large-scale cosmic-ray driven wind has recently been proposed to explain the origin of filaments and the large-scale 430 pc bipolar radio and X-ray structure. This favors the possibility that the large-scale bipolar radio/X-ray structure is produced by past activity of Sgr A* rather than coordinated burst of supernovae. A trend of steeper indices is also noted with increasing distance from the Galactic plane. This could be explained either by synchrotron cooling or weak shocks accelerating cosmic-ray particles in the context of the cosmic-ray driven wind. The mean magnetic field strengths along the filaments ranges from $\sim100$ to 400 $\mu$G depending on the assumed ratio of cosmic-ray protons to electrons. Given that there is a high cosmic ray pressure in the Galactic center, the large equipartition magnetic field implies that the magnetic field is weak in most of the interstellar volume of the Galactic center.