An origin of narrow extended structure in the interstellar medium: an interstellar contrail created by a fast-moving massive object

TL;DR

This paper proposes that fast-moving massive objects can create filamentary structures in the interstellar medium, serving as observable signatures to detect otherwise invisible massive objects like intermediate-mass black holes.

Contribution

It introduces a new mechanism for filament formation via thermal condensation caused by high-velocity massive objects in the interstellar medium.

Findings

Filaments longer than 100 pc can form with objects over 10^4 solar masses.

Interstellar contrails can reveal properties of hidden massive objects.

The mechanism offers a new way to detect intermediate-mass black holes.

Abstract

We investigate the thermal condensation caused by a massive object that passes through the interstellar medium with high velocity, and propose a mechanism for creating a filamentary gaseous object, or interstellar contrail. Our main result shows that a long interstellar contrail can form with a certain parameter; a compact object more massive than $10^4\ {\rm M_\odot}$ can make a filament whose length is larger than $100\ {\rm pc}$. Observation of interstellar contrails may provide information on the number, masses, and velocities of fast-moving massive objects, and can be a new method for probing invisible gravitating sources such as intermediate-mass black holes.