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arXiv · 1004.1412

Molecular clouds: X-ray mirrors of the Galactic nuclear activity

Gabriele Ponti·Regis Terrier·Andrea Goldwurm·Guillaume Belanger·Guillaume Trap
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Abstract

We present the result of a study of the X-ray emission from the Galactic Centre Molecular Clouds (MC), within 15 arcmin from Sgr A*. We use XMM-Newton data spanning about 8 years. We observe an apparent super-luminal motion of a light front illuminating a MC. This might be due to a source outside the MC (such as Sgr A* or a bright and long outburst of a X-ray binary), while it can not be due to low energy cosmic rays or a source located inside the cloud. We also observe a decrease of the X-ray emission from G0.11-0.11, behaviour similar to the one of Sgr B2. The line intensities, clouds dimensions, columns densities and positions with respect to Sgr A*, are consistent with being produced by the same Sgr A* flare. The required high luminosity (about 1.5 10^39 erg s-1) can hardly be produced by a binary system, while it is in agreement with a flare of Sgr A* fading about 100 years ago.

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Gabriele Ponti, Regis Terrier, Andrea Goldwurm, Guillaume Belanger, Guillaume Trap. 2010-04-08. Molecular clouds: X-ray mirrors of the Galactic nuclear activity. https://arxiv.org/abs/1004.1412

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